A simple but rational procedure for prediction of extreme wave-induced hull girderbending moment is presented. The procedure takes into account main ship hull characteristics such as: length, breadth, draught, block coefficient, bow flare coefficient, forward speed and hull flexibility. The wave......-linear strip theory calculations and supplemented with new closed form results for the hogging bending moment. Focus is on the extreme hull girder hogging bending moment. Due to the few input parameters this procedure can be used to estimate the wave-induced bending moments at the conceptual design phase....... Another application area is for novel single hull ship types not presently covered by the rules of the classification societies. As one application example the container ship M/S Napoli is considered....

Currently, a number of very large container ships are being built and more are on order, and some concerns have been expressed about the importance of the reduced hull girder stiffness to the wave-induced loads. The main concern is related to the fatigue life, but also a possible increase...... in the global hull girder loads as consequence of the increased hull flexibility must be considered. This is especially so as the rules of the classification societies do not explicitly account for the effect of hull flexibility on the global loads. In the present paper an analysis has been carried out...... in the waves. Slamming forces are determined by a standard momentum formulation. The hull flexibility is modelled as a nonprismatic Timoshenko beam. Generally, good agreement with experimental results and more accurate numerical predictions has previously been obtained in a number of studies. The statistical...

Box girder bridges are one of the best options for bridges with span more than 25 m. For the study of these bridges, three-dimensional finite element analysis is the best suited method. However, performing three-dimensional analysis for routine design is difficult as well as time consuming. Also, software used for the three-dimensional analysis are very expensive. Hence designers resort to simplified analysis for predicting longitudinal and transverse bending moments. Among the many analytical methods used to find the transverse bending moments, SFA is the simplest and widely used in design offices. Results from simplified frame analysis can be used for the preliminary analysis of the concrete box girder bridges.From the review of literatures, it is found that majority of the work done using SFA is restricted to the analysis of single cell box girder bridges. Not much work has been done on the analysis multi-cell concrete box girder bridges. In this present study, a double cell concrete box girder bridge is chosen. The bridge is modelled using three- dimensional finite element software and the results are then compared with the simplified frame analysis. The study mainly focuses on establishing correction factors for transverse bending moment values obtained from SFA.

increase the extreme hull girder response significantly. Focus in the present paper is on the influence of the hull girder flexibility on the extreme response amidships, namely the wave-induced verticalbending moment (VBM) in hogging, and the prediction of the extreme value of the same. The analysis...... in the present paper is based on time series of full scale measurements from three large container ships of 8600, 9400 and 14000 TEU. When carrying out the extreme value estimation the peak-over-threshold (POT) method combined with an appropriate extreme value distribution is applied. The choice of a proper...... threshold level as well as the statistical correlation between clustered peaks influence the extreme value prediction and are taken into consideration in the present paper....

This paper provides simple but rational procedures for prediction of extreme wave – induced sectional hull girder forces with reasonable engineering accuracy. The procedures take into account main ship hull characteristics such as: length, breadth, draught, block coefficient, bow flare coefficient......, forward speed and hull flexibility. The vertical hull girder loads are evaluated for specific operational profiles. Firstly a quadratic strip theory is presented which can give separate predictions for the hogging and sagging bending moments and shear forces and for hull girder loads. Then this procedure...... is based on rational methods it can be applied for novel single hull ship types not presently covered by the rules of the classification societies or to account for specific operational profiles....

Numerical predictions and model test results of the wave induced bending moments in a 9,400 TEU post-Panamax container vessel are presented for two regular wave scenarios. Different numerical procedures have been applied: a linear and non-linear time-domain strip theory and a direct calculation (...... (CFD) solving the Navier-Stokes equations with the free surface captured by a volume-of-fluid (VOF) method. In all procedures the flexibility of the hull girder is modelled as a non-uniform Timoshenko beam. It is observed that the non-linear models agree well with the model tests...... and as there is no occurrence of severe slamming in the cases considered, the inexpensive non-linear strip theory is as accurate as the direct CFD calculation method. In a comparison with the results using the rigid body assumption, the increase in the verticalbending moment (VBM) amidships due to the flexibility of the hull...... girder is found to be approximately 7% (peak-to-peak amplitude) in general. The non-linear responses, however, contain over-harmonic frequencies which may coincide with the natural frequency of the two-node verticalbending mode inducing resonance. In that case the hull girder flexibility causes...

Tests have been carried out on an electrically heated vertical U-tube evaporator test section to investigate the phenomenon of 'premature' bend dryout and its subsequent disappearance. The dryout results are compared satisfactorily with an analytically based model while the associated wall temperatures are investigated with the aid of a simple one-dimensional conduction model. (author)

The BV1C magnet is a large aperture, verticalbending magnet to be used to bend proton beams in the interaction region. An aperture larger than 80 mm is required. The central field has to be a minimum of 6T with a 10% margin. The lattice requirements for field quality are stringent because two counter beams traverse this magnet off the center axis. This magnet's transfer function sag is specified to match closely the transfer function sag of the low beta quadrupoles. With these specifications in mind, suitable designs for the 2-D magnetic cross-sections have been analyzed

Growing interest in utilizing circular polarization prompted the design of bend-magnet beamline 9.3.2 at the Advanced Light Source, covering the 30-1500 eV spectral region, to include vertical aperturing capabilities for optimizing the collection of circular polarization above and below the orbit plane. After commissioning and early use of the beamline, a multilayer polarimeter was used to characterize the polarization state of the beam as a function of vertical aperture position. This report partially summarizes the polarimetry measurements and compares results with theoretical calculations intended to simulate experimental conditions.

Highlights: • The work concerns granular flow in a vertical pipe with a bend. • Discharge rate fluctuation in vertical pipe are mainly from velocity fluctuation. • Steady discharge rate decreases rapidly and saturates with μ{sub s} increasing. • Steady discharge rate W{sub s} still obey the 5/2 power law of pipe internal diameter. • A correlation developed for steady discharge rate for this new geometry. - Abstract: Absorber sphere pneumatic conveying is a special application of pneumatic conveying technique in the pebble bed High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR or HTR). Granular discharge through a vertical pipe with a bend outlet is one of the control modes to determine solid mass flowrate which is an important parameter for the design of absorber sphere pneumatic conveying. Granular discharge rate through the vertical pipe with a bend outlet in the small absorber sphere system are investigated by discrete element method simulation. The effect of geometry parameters on discharge rate, the discharge rate fluctuation in the vertical pipe, and the effect of friction on steady discharge rate (W{sub s}) are analyzed and discussed. The phenomena of discharge rate fluctuation in the vertical pipe are observed, which are mainly resulted from the evolution of the average downward granular velocity. The steady discharge rate decreases rapidly with sliding friction coefficient increasing from 0.125 to 0.5, and gradually saturates with the friction coefficient further increasing from 0.5 to 1. It is interesting that the linear relation between W{sub s}{sup 2/5} and pipe internal diameter D with zero intercept are found for the vertical pipe discharge with a bend outlet, which is different from the orifice discharge through a hopper or silo with none-zero intercept. A correlation similar to Beverloo’s correlation is developed to predict the steady discharge rate through the vertical pipe with a bend outlet. These results are helpful for the design of sphere

A kind of approximate theoretical calculating formula of the vertical U-bend tube natural-circuit steam generator is deduced by using an approximate method, the results of this formula is compared with the heat exchanging areas of the real vertical U-bend tube natural-circuit steam generators, the absolute errors of them are below 8%

Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) is a competition for students to construct formula student car. One of an essential part of a formula student car is its chassis. Chassis is an internal vehicle frame which holds all another part of the vehicle and secures the driver. The team have to design their chassis and tests their design to achieve the best chassis that fulfill the regulation. This paper contains chassis design from Bengawan FSAE Team and some FEA tests to find out the Tensile Strength, Torsional Rigidity, and Von Misses Stress of Formula SAE car. Torsional rigidity was found by applying the static torsional test. The results from torsional rigidity test are a maximum deformation of 9.9512 mm with 1.7064 safety factor, and 35.935 MPa maximum Von Misses Stress. Moreover, then the result of the verticalbending strength test is 8.1214 mm max deformation with safety factor 4.2717, and 29.226 MPa maximum Von Misses Stress.

Active vibration control of long span suspension bridge flutter using separated control flaps (SFSC) has shown to increase effectively the critical wind speed of bridges. In this paper, an SFSC calculation based on modal equations of the vertical and torsional motions of the bridge girder including...... the flaps is presented. The length of the flaps attached to the girder, the flap configuration and the flap rotational angles are parameters used to increase the critical wind speed of the bridge. To illustrate the theory a numerical example is shown for a suspension bridge of 1000m+2500m+1000m span based...... on the Great Belt Bridge streamlined girder....

Full Text Available The cranes are now not replaceable mode of transport of materials and finished products both in production halls and in the open space. This paper made the whole analytical calculation of double girder bridge cranes to be used in laboratories exclusively for testing, determined by the maximum bending stress and deflection of the main girder. After calculating the dimensions, we created a model cranes in software CATIA V5. The same model was subjected to FEM analysis of the same name software. At the end of the paper comparison has been done. The objective of the calculation and analysis of the model was to develop a model crane and to serve for the next tests. Dimensions of the crane are given according to the laboratory where it will be located.

Based on the installation checking requirements of China’s current standards and the international norms for prefabricated structural precast components, it proposed an installation checking method for precast composite floor slab with lattice girders. By taking an equivalent composite beam consisted of a single lattice girder and the precast concrete slab as the checking object, compression instability stress of upper chords and yield stress of slab distribution reinforcement at the maximum positive moment, tensile yield stress of upper chords, slab normal section normal compression stress and shear instability stress of diagonal bars at the maximum negative moment were checked. And the bending stress and deflection of support beams, strength and compression stability bearing capacity of the vertical support, shear bearing capacity of the bolt and compression bearing capacity of steel tube wall at the bolt were checked at the same time. Every different checking object was given a specific load value and load combination. Application of installation checking method was given and testified by example.

Highlights: ► Visual observation of two-phase flow regimes during downward flow in a return bend. ► Bubble and vapor slug dynamical behaviors in downward slug flow are reported. ► Perturbation lengths up- and downstream of the return bend have been investigated. ► Measurement of 285 pressure drop data points for HFO-1234yf, R-134a and R-410A. -- Abstract: This paper provides a qualitative visual observation of the two-phase flow patterns for HFO-1234yf and R-134a during downward flow in a vertical 6.7 mm inner diameter glass return bend. The different flow regimes observed are: slug, intermittent and annular flows. Bubble and vapor slug dynamical behaviors in downward slug flow are reported for HFO-1234yf. In addition, to determine the perturbation lengths up- and downstream of the return bend, the total pressure drop has been measured at different pressure tap location up- and downstream of the singularity. Furthermore, 285 pressure drop data points measured for two-phase flow of HFO-1234yf, R-134a and R-410A in vertical downward flow return bends are presented. The flow behavior in the return bend, which is subjected to the complex combined actions of gravity and centrifugal force was expressed in terms of the vapor Froude number. This experimental pressure drop database, which is included in the appendix, is compared to four well-known prediction methods available in the literature

The present invention relates to a reinforced blade for a wind turbine, particularly to a blade having a new arrangement of two or more girders in the blade, wherein each of the girders is connected to the upper part and the lower part of the shell and forms an angle with another girder thereby...

Full Text Available Patch loading is a predominant load case at incremental bridge launching. Bridge girder webs are frequently provided with longitudinal stiffeners to increase in-service shear and bending strength, and its effect has been included in design codes. However, no straightforward rules are given to account for the influence of such stiffeners on improving the patch loading resistance. This paper presents a review of some available formulae found in the literature to estimate the girder ultimate strength including the provisions of the European, American and Colombian design codes. Additionally, a nonlinear finite element analysis is conducted on three case studies related to actual launched bridges. The case studies are also used to study the influence of the longitudinal stiffener and girder depth on the girder capacity. Different load-displacement responses are observed depending on the girder depth. Finally, the finite element analysis shows to what extent the longitudinal stiffeners can increase the patch loading capacity of bridge girder webs during launching.

Full Text Available Distortional buckling is one of the most important buckling modes of the steel-concrete composite girder under negative moment. In this study, the equivalent lateral and torsional restraints of the bottom flange of a steel-concrete composite girder under negative moments due to variable axial forces are thoroughly investigated. The results show that there is a coupling effect between the applied forces and the lateral and torsional restraint of the bottom flange. Based on the calculation formula of lateral and torsional restraints, the critical buckling stress of I-steel-concrete composite girders and steel-concrete composite box girders under variable axial force is obtained. The critical bending moment of the steel-concrete composite girders can be further calculated. Compared to the traditional calculation methods of elastic foundation beam, the paper introduces an improved method, which considers coupling effect of the external loads and the foundation spring constraints of the bottom flange. Fifteen examples of the steel-concrete composite girders in different conditions are calculated. The calculation results show a good match between the hand calculation and the ANSYS finite element method, which validated that the analytic calculation method proposed in this paper is practical.

A girder control system is proposed to quickly and precisely adjust the displacement and rotating angle of all girders in the storage ring with little manpower at the Taiwan Photon Source (TPS) project at National Synchrotron Research Center (NSRRC). In this control girder system, six motorized cam movers supporting a girder are driven on three pedestals to perform six-axis adjustments of a girder. A tilt-meter monitors the pitch and roll of each girder; several touch sensors measure the relative displacement between consecutive girders. Moreover, a laser position sensitive detector (PSD) system measuring the relative displacement between straight-section girders is included in this girder control system. Operator can use subroutines developed by MATLAB to control every local girder control system via the web. The test results show that the girder control system adjusts girders quickly, precisely and stably

We investigate the effect of a return U-bend on flow behaviour in the vertical upward section of a large-diameter pipe. A wire mesh sensor was employed to study the void fraction distributions at axial distances of 5, 28 and 47 pipe diameters after the upstream bottom bend. The study found that, the bottom bend has considerable impacts on up-flow behaviour. In all conditions, centrifugal action causes appreciable misdistribution in the adjacent straight section. Plots from WMS measurements show that flow asymmetry significantly reduces along the axis at L/D = 47. Regime maps generated from three axial locations showed that, in addition to bubbly, intermittent and annular flows, oscillatory flow occurred particularly when gas and liquid flow rates were relatively low. At this position, mean void fractions were in agreement with those from other large-pipe studies, and comparisons were made with existing void fraction correlations. Among the correlations surveyed, drift flux-type correlations were found to give the best predictive results.

Full Text Available Objectives. The aim of the present work is to study the influence of design parameters on the stress-deformed state of a sprengel crane girder; to compile the tables and corresponding graphs illustrating changes in internal force factors in the characteristic cross-sections of the system elements under consideration. The article describes the study of the stress-deformed state (SDS of a metal strut-framed crane girder.Methods. Numerical methods of analysis based on the use of the Green's function are used during solving this problem. A dimensionless parameter is introduced, depending on which the tables and graphs are constructed. According to the known algorithm, the calculations of internal force factors in the sections of the considered construction are performed.Results. Depending on the dimensionless parameter characterising the geometry and physical features of the system, tables of bending moments and transverse forces are compiled. According to these tables, the appropriate graphs are plotted in order to choose easily the optimal design parameters.Conclusion. The dependence of the moments and transverse forces on the dimensionless parameter k was found, the corresponding graphs were plotted and the metal costs for the girders were calculated. The minimum values of the moments and transverse forces are established to take place when the dimensionless parameter k values are close to zero. The most economical was a strut-framed crane girder having k = 0.0001. The most uneconomical had k = 0.05 and k =∞. Eventually, the sprengel girders were found to be more profitable as compared to conventional crane girders. In the examples considered in the article, the metal savings amounted up to 14%. The presented methodology allows the calculation and designing of strut-framed crane girders with two racks to be carried out.

Full Text Available The FRP-steel girder composite bridge system is increasingly used in new constructions of bridges as well as rehabilitation of old bridges. However, the understanding of composite action between FRP decks and steel girders is limited and needs to be systematically investigated. In this paper, depending on the experimental investigations of FRP to steel girder system, the Finite Element (FE models on experiments were developed and analyzed. Comparison between experiments and FE results indicated that the FE models were much stiffer for in-plane shear stiffness of the FRP deck panel. To modify the FE models, rotational spring elements were added between webs and flanges of FRP decks, to simulate the semirigid connections. Numerical analyses were also conducted on four-point bending experiments of FRP-steel composite girders. Good agreement between experimental results and FE analysis was achieved by comparing the load-deflection curves at midspan and contribution of composite action from FRP decks. With the validated FE models, the parametric studies were conducted on adhesively bonded connection between FRP decks and steel girders, which indicated that the loading transfer capacity of adhesive connection was not simply dependent on the shear modulus or thickness of adhesive layer but dominated by the in-plane shear stiffness K.

Full Text Available The objective of the present study is to analyze the residual strength of asymmetrically damaged ship hull girder under longitudinal bending. Beam Finite Element Method isused for the assessment of the residual strength of two single hull bulk carriers (Ship B1 and Ship B4 and a three-cargo-hold model of a single-side Panamax Bulk Carrierin hogging and sagging conditions. The Smith’s method is adopted and implemented into Beam Finite Element Method. An efficient solution procedure is applied; i.e. by assuming the cross section remains plane, the verticalbending moment is applied to the cross section and three-cargo-hold model. As a fundamental case, the damage is simply created by removing the elements from the cross section, neglecting any welding residual stress and initial imperfection. Also no crack extension is considered. The result obtained by Beam Finite Element Method so-called Beam-HULLST is compared to the progressive collapse analysis obtained by HULLST for the validation of the present work. Then, for the three-hold-model, the Beam-HULLST is used to investigate the effect of the rotation of the netral axisboth intact and damage condition taking the one and five frame spaces into account.

End diaphragms connect multiple girders to form a bridge superstructure system for effective resistance to earthquake loads. Concrete : girder bridges that include end diaphragms consistently proved to perform well during previous earthquake events. ...

"Prestressed concrete girders are an economical superstructure system for bridges. With the : advent of higher strength concretes and more effi cient cross sections, the use of long span (>100 : ft.) prestressed girders are now specifi ed. Such long ...

The design of prestressed concrete bridge girders has changed significantly over the past several : decades. Specifically, the design procedure to calculate the shear capacity of bridge girders that : was used forty years ago is very different than t...

Wide cracks were discovered in prestressed concrete bridge girders shortly after their construction in Huntsville, Alabama. Previous investigations of these continuous-for-live-load girders revealed that the cracking resulted from restrained thermal ...

Committee Mandate. Evaluate and develop direct calculation procedures for extreme wawe loads on ship hull girders. Due consideration shall be given to stochastic and non-linear effects. The procedures shall be assessed by comparison with in-service experiences, model tests and more refined...

Most highway bridges are built as cast-in-place : reinforced concrete slabs and prestressed concrete : girders. The shear connectors on the top of the girders : assure composite action between the slabs and : girders. The design guidelines for bridge...

Full Text Available On the preliminary designing of a wide flat box girder with the slenderness ratio 12, vertical and torsional vortex-induced vibrations (VIV are observed in wind tunnel tests. More than one lock-in region, which are defined as “multi-lock-in regions,” are recorded. Therefore, suspicions should be aroused regarding the viewpoint that wide box girders are aerodynamic friendly. As the three nascent vortexes originating at the pedestrian guardrails and inspection rails shed to near-wake through different pathways with different frequencies, the mechanisms of VIVs and multi-lock-in regions are analyzed to be determined by the inappropriate subsidiary structures. A hybrid method combining Large Eddy Simulation (LES with experimental results is introduced to study the flow-structure interactions (FSI when undergoing VIVs; the vortex mode of torsional VIV on wide flat box girders is defined as “4/2S,” which is different from any other known ones. Based on the mechanism of VIV, a new approach by increasing ventilation rate of the pedestrian guardrails is proved to be effective in suppressing vertical and torsional VIVs, and it is more feasible than other control schemes. Then, the control mechanisms are deeper investigated by analyzing the evolution of vortex mode and FSI using Hybrid-LES method.

This report presents the setup and result of a full-scale test of a reinforced glass fibre/epoxy box girder used in 34m wind turbine blade. The tests were performed at the Blaest test facility in August 2006. The test is an important part of a research project established in cooperation between Risoe DTU, the National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy at the Technical University of Denmark -, SSP-Technology A/S and Blaest (Blade test centre A/S) and it has been performed as a part of Find Moelholt Jensen's PhD study. This report contains the complete test data for the final test, in which the box girder was loaded until failure. A comprehensive description of the test setup is given. This report deals only with tests and results. There are no conclusions on the data in this report, but references are given to publications, where the data are used and compared with FEM etc. Various kinds of measuring equipment have been used during these tests: acoustic emission, 330 strain gauges, 24 mechanical displacement devices and two optical deformation measuring systems. The mechanical displacement devices measured both global (absolute) and local (relative) deflection and the optical systems measured surface deformation. A prediction was made on the location of the failure of the girder. At this location the majority of the measuring equipment was concentrated. The prediction was proved to be correct and valuable information of the behaviour of the box girder prior to failure was obtained. The experimental investigation consisted of the following load configurations: -Flapwise bending -Torsion Ultrasonic scanning of the box girder was performed before, during and after the test the box girder. This was done to investigate whether the girder was damaged by the load or imperfection (productions defects) growth. (au)

Full Text Available Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP are being increasingly used for the repair and strengthening of deteriorated or unsafe concrete structures, including structurally deficient concrete highway bridges. The behavior of FRP strengthened concrete bridge girders, including failure modes, failure loads, and deflections, can be determined using an analytical finite element modeling approach, as outlined in this paper. The differences in flexural versus shear FRP strengthening and comparison with available design guidelines are also beneficial to design professionals. In this paper, a common AASHTO type prestressed concrete bridge girder with FRP wrapping was analyzed using the ANSYS FEM software and the ACI analytical approach. Both flexural and shear FRP applications, including vertical and inclined shear strengthening, were examined. Results showed that FRP wrapping can significantly benefit concrete bridge girders in terms of flexure/shear capacity increase, deflection reduction, and crack control. The FRP strength was underutilized in the section selected herein, which could be addressed through decrease of the amount of FRP and prestressing steel used, thereby increasing the section ductility. The ACI approach produced comparable results to the FEM and can be effectively and conveniently used in design.

Lateral torsional buckling is a key factor in the design of steel girders. Stability can be enhanced by cross-bracing, reducing the effective length and thus increasing the ultimate capacity. U-frames are an option often used to brace the girders when designing through type of bridges and where...... overhead bracing is not practical. This paper investigates the effect of the U-frame spacing on the stability of the parallel girders. Eigenvalue buckling analysis was undertaken with four different spacings of the U-frames. Results were extracted from finite element analysis, interpreted and conclusions...

Box girder bridge deck, is the most common type of bridges in world and India, it consists of several Slab or girders. The span in the direction of the roadway and connected across their tops and bottoms by a thin continuous structural stab, the longitudinal box girders can be made of steel or concrete. The Simple supported single span concrete bridge deck is presented in present study. Skewed bridges are suitable in highway design when the geometry of straight bridges is not possible. The sk...

Precast prestressed concrete I-Girder bridges have become the most dominant bridge system in the United States. In the early design : stages, preliminary design becomes a vital first step in designing an economical bridge. Within the state of Nebrask...

The construction of highway bridges using precast prestressed concrete (PSC) girders is considered one of the most : economical construction alternatives because of the advantages they offer (e.g. reducing formwork and rapid construction). : Construc...

Building multi-simple span bridges using precast prestressed concrete girders is an easy construction. However, the existence of : expansion joints often leads to a host of problems in their vicinity due to drainage leaks. Furthermore, debris accumul...

This document reports the findings of a research project designed to better understand material and structural performance of prestressed bridge girders made with Self-Consolidating Concrete (SCC) from Wisconsin. SCC has high potential to be used for...

Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) is commonly used as an alternative to conventional concrete (CC) in precast, prestressed concrete (PSC) bridge girders. The high strength, highly workable mixture can flow through dense reinforcement to fill formwork...

This research study investigates the behavior of two long prestressed concrete girders during lifting and : transportation from the precast yard to the bridge site, with a particular focus on cracking concerns : during transport. Different response m...

End region detailing has significant effect on the serviceability, behavior, and capacity of pretensioned concrete girders. : In this project, experimental and analytical research programs were conducted to evaluate and quantify the effects of : diff...

Full Text Available To research structural performance of extra-large-span cable-stayed bridge under different section forms, with the engineering background of a 800m main-span cable-stayed bridge with steel truss girder, the cable-stayed bridge with steel box girder is designed according to the current bridge regulations when two bridges are designed in an ultimate state of the carrying capacity, so the maximum stress and minimum stress of the stress envelope diagram are substantially the same. A comprehensive comparison is given to two types of bridge on the aspect of static force, natural vibration frequency, stability, economic performance and so on. Analysis results provide future reference for the large-span cable-stayed bridge to select between the steel truss girder and the steel box girder.

In bridges constructed with precast prestressed concrete girders, resistance to seismic effects is achieved by the interaction between the columns, the cap beam and the girders. These components must be connected to provide flexural resistance. Under...

Wisconsin bulb tee pretensioned concrete girders are currently used for bridge construction. Their efficiency in load resistance has made them particularly desirable. To provide that efficiency, these girders are heavily prestressed. Cracking is evid...

Taking the bridge widening project of Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo expressway widening construction project (China) as the background in this paper, the variation law of the internal force of the old bridge in the widening hollow slab girder bridge under vehicle load is studied, which is under the condition of different span lengths and different widening widths. Three different span lengths of the pre-tensioned prestressed hollow slab girder bridges are selected, the spatial finite element models of both the old bridge and the whole structure of widening bridge are established and calculated respectively by Midas/Civil software. The influences of widening and load increasing on the old bridges under the vehicle load are compared and analyzed. In addition, the authors also analyze the influences of different widening widths on the force state of old bridges under the condition of widening the same number of lane. Moreover , the effects on the old bridges that are caused by the uneven foundation settlement of widening bridge structure are also studied in this paper. This paper can provide some references for widening design of hollow slab bridges.

Full Text Available A finite segment method is presented to analyze the mechanical behavior of skewed box girders. By modeling the top and bottom plates of the segments with skew plate beam element under an inclined coordinate system and the webs with normal plate beam element, a spatial elastic displacement model for skewed box girder is constructed, which can satisfy the compatibility condition at the corners of the cross section for box girders. The formulation of the finite segment is developed based on the variational principle. The major advantage of the proposed approach, in comparison with the finite element method, is that it can simplify a three-dimensional structure into a one-dimensional structure for structural analysis, which results in significant saving in computational times. At last, the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed finite segment method are verified by a model test.

Many ice shelves are subject to strong ocean tides and, in order to accommodate this vertical motion, the ice must bend within the grounding zone. This tidal bending generates large stresses within the ice, changing its effective viscosity. For a confined ice shelf, this is particularly relevant because the tidal bending stresses occur along the sidewalls, which play an important role in the overall flow regime of the ice shelf. Hence, tidal bending stresses will affect both the mean and time-varying components of ice shelf flow. GPS measurements reveal strong variations in horizontal ice shelf velocities at a variety of tidal frequencies. We show, using full-Stokes viscoelastic modelling, that inclusion of tidal bending within the model accounts for much of the observed tidal modulation of horizontal ice shelf flow. Furthermore, our model shows that in the absence of a vertical tidal forcing, the mean flow of the ice shelf is reduced considerably.

The classical measurements of stability of railway bridge, in the context of determining the vertical displacements of the object, consisted on precise leveling of girders and trigonometric leveling of controlled points (fixed into girders' surface). The construction elements, which were measured in two ways, in real terms belonged to the same vertical planes. Altitude measurements of construction were carried out during periodic structural stability tests and during static load tests of bridge by train. The specificity of displacement measurements, the type of measured object and the rail land surveying measurement conditions were determinants to define methodology of altitude measurement. The article presents compatibility of vertical displacements of steel railway bridge, which were developed in two measurement methods. In conclusion, the authors proposed the optimum concept of determining the vertical displacements of girders by using precise and trigonometric leveling (in terms of accuracy, safety and economy of measurement).

Full Text Available The classical measurements of stability of railway bridge, in the context of determining the vertical displacements of the object, consisted on precise leveling of girders and trigonometric leveling of controlled points (fixed into girders' surface. The construction elements, which were measured in two ways, in real terms belonged to the same vertical planes. Altitude measurements of construction were carried out during periodic structural stability tests and during static load tests of bridge by train. The specificity of displacement measurements, the type of measured object and the rail land surveying measurement conditions were determinants to define methodology of altitude measurement. The article presents compatibility of vertical displacements of steel railway bridge, which were developed in two measurement methods. In conclusion, the authors proposed the optimum concept of determining the vertical displacements of girders by using precise and trigonometric leveling (in terms of accuracy, safety and economy of measurement.

The object of the present work is to study the bolted joint submodule to girder. This joint is critical from the point of view of the mechanical integrity of the Tilecal Barrel and Extended Barrel modules and LAr Endcaps. Theoretical analysis, FEM calculations and tests have been carried out in order to find a solution that fulfils the safety factors design criteria.

Prestressed Concrete (PC) I-girders are used extensively as the primary superstructure components in Texas highway bridges. : A simple semi-empirical equation was developed at the University of Houston (UH) to predict the shear strength of PC I-girde...

This report is covering the structural design and full scale test of a box girder as a part of the project “Demonstration of new blade design using manufacturing process simulations” supported by the EUDP program. A box girder with a predetermined outer geometry was designed using new inventions...... that the manufacturing process could include the new inventions. Subsequently the box girder was transported to the blade test facility at DTU Wind Energy. A series of test was performed with the blade to investigate the behaviour during loading, and finally the girder was loaded to ultimate failure. The report includes...... the description of the test setup, the test and an overview over the results from the test performed on the box girder. During the final test the box girder failed at 58 % of the expected ultimate load. Unfortunately, no definite conclusion could be made concerning the failure mechanism....

Monitoring prestressing forces is essential for prestressed concrete box girder bridges. However, the current monitoring methods used for prestressing force were not applicable for a box girder neither because of the sensor’s setup being constrained or shear lag effect not being properly considered. Through combining with the previous analysis model of shear lag effect in the box girder, this paper proposed an indirect monitoring method for on-site determination of prestressing force in a concrete box girder utilizing the distributed long-gauge fiber Bragg grating sensor. The performance of this method was initially verified using numerical simulation for three different distribution forms of prestressing tendons. Then, an experiment involving two concrete box girders was conducted to study the feasibility of this method under different prestressing levels preliminarily. The results of both numerical simulation and lab experiment validated this method’s practicability in a box girder.

This thesis investigates the repair of impact-damaged prestressed concrete bridge girders with strand splices and fabric-reinforced cementitious matrix systems, specifically for repair of structural damage to the underside of an overpass bridge girder due to an overheight vehicle collision. Collision damage to bridges can range from minor to catastrophic, potentially requiring repair or replacement of a bridge girder. This thesis investigates the performance of two different types of repair...

This research is done by comparing PCI and Box Girder types of prestressed concrete design. The method used is load balance. Previous studies have just discussed the differences in terms of effectiveness and economics. In this study, the researchers want to know the design process by comparing the working forces, the resulting moment, and the losses of the prestressed. As the case in this study, the researchers used the bridge with the span of 31 meters. The tendon pulling system was conducted with post-tensioning system The analysis result showed that prestressed of the Girder box type sustained the greatest moment due to the combination of its own weight, additional dead load, lane load, and wind load of 44,029 kNm, while the biggest moment of PCI Girder was 7,556.75 KNm The Girder beam box experiences greater moment and shear force than PCI Girder. This is the effect of the weight of its own Girderboxwaslarger than PCI Girder. The losses ofprestressed style of Girderboxand PCI Girder type were 24.85% and 26.32%, respectively.Moreover, it showed that the type of Girder box is cheaper, easier, and more efficient than PCI Girder.

Most new advanced ships have extensive data collection systems to be used for continuous monitoring of engine and hull performance, for voyage performance evaluation etc. Such systems could be expanded to include also procedures for stress monitoring and for decision support, where the most...... critical wave-induced ship extreme responses and fatigue damage accumulation can be estimated for hypothetical changes in ship course and speed in the automatically estimated wave environment.The aim of this paper is to outline a calculation procedure for fatigue damage rate prediction in hull girders...... taking into account whipping stresses. It is conceptually shown how such a method, which integrates onboard estimation of sea states, can be used to deduce decision support with respect to the accumulated fatigue damage in the hull girder.The paper firstly presents a set of measured full-scale wave...

Because of its main advantage of simplicity, practicality, lower computational cost and relative good results Pushover analysis (POA) has become an effective analytical tool during the last decade for the seismic assessment of buildings. But such work on bridges has been very limited. Hence, the aim of this study is to adapt POA for nonlinear seismic analysis of girder bridges, and investigate its applicability in the case of an existing river-spanning approach bridge. To three different types bridge models the nonlinear POA, which adopts fiber model nonlinear beam-column element based on flexibility approach, with return period about 2500 years is carried out. It can be concluded that POA is applicable for bridges, with some shortcomings associated with the method in general, even when it is applied for buildings. Finally the applicable selection for monitoring point and lateral load pattern is suggested according to dynamic characteristic of girder bridges.

Full Text Available This paper presents the application of nonlinear finite element models in the analysis of dapped-ends pre-stressed reinforced concrete girders under static loading by using ANSYS software. The girder dimensions are (4.90 m span, 0.40 m depth, 0.20 m width, 0.20 m nib depth, and 0.10 m nib length and the parameters considered in this research are the pre-stress effect, and strand profile (straight and draped. The numerical results are compared with the experimental results of the same girders. The comparisons are carried out in terms of initial prestress effect, load- deflection curve, and failure load. Good agreement was obtained between the analytical and experimental results. Even that, the numerical model was stiffer than the experimental, but; there were a good agreements in both trends and values. The difference varies in the range (5-12% for the deflection. Results have shown that the pre-stress force has increased the static ultimate load capacity by (35% in case of straight strand and by (97% in case of draped strand

In the Advanced Photon Source, the synchrotron booster ring accelerates positrons to the required energy level of 7 GeV. The positrons are then injected into the storage ring where they continue to orbit for 10--15 h. The storage ring quadrupoles have very stringent vibration criteria that must be satisfied to ensure that beam emittance growth is within acceptable limits, viz., <10%. Because the synchrotron booster ring is not operated after particle insertion into the storage ring, its vibration response is not a critical issue relative to the performance of the storage ring beam. Nevertheless, the synchrotron pulses at a frequency of 2 Hz, and if a vibration response frequency of the synchrotron magnet/girder assembly were to coincide with the pulsation frequency or its near harmonics, large-amplitude motion could result, with the effect that it could compromise the operation of the synchrotron. Due to the complex dynamics of the synchrotron magnet/girder assembly, it is necessary to measure the dynamic response of a prototypic assembly and its components to ensure that the inherent dynamic response frequencies are not equal to 2 Hz or any near harmonics. Dynamic-response measurement of the synchrotron girder assembly and component magnets is the subject of this report

This paper aims at quantifying the changes in notional reliability levels that result from redesigning an existing Aframax tanker to comply with the Common Structural Rules (CSR) for double-hull oil tankers. The probability of structural failure is calculated using the first-order reliability method. The evaluation of the wave-induced load effects that occur during long-term operation of the ship in the seaway is carried out in accordance with the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS)-recommended procedure, while transfer functions are calculated using the sink-source 3D linear method. The still-water loads are defined on the basis of a statistical analysis of loading conditions from the loading manual. The ultimate collapse bending moment of the midship cross section, which is used as the basis for the reliability formulation, is evaluated by progressive collapse analysis and by a single-step procedure according to CSR. The reliability assessment is performed for 'as-built' and 'corroded' states of the existing ship and a reinforced ship complying with CSR. It is shown that the hull-girder failure probability of an Aframax tanker is reduced several times due to the reinforcements according to CSR. Sensitivity analysis and a parametric study are performed to investigate the variability of results with the change of parameters of pertinent random variables within their plausible ranges. Finally, differences between load combination approaches by Ferry-Borges and Castanheta method and Turkstra's rule are investigated

The goal of this research was to study several methods of generating composite action using open-web joist-girders, designed and manufactured by Nucor Corporation. In addition to comparing the relative performance of these systems, it was intended to determine whether the current accepted design procedure for composite joists could be extended to joist-girders.

Project 0-5574 Curved Plate Girder Design for Safe and Economical Construction, resulted in the : development of two design tools, UT Lift and UT Bridge. UT Lift is a spreadsheet-based program for analyzing : steel girders during lifting while ...

Full Text Available PCI bridge girders is known and widely used for many construction e.g.: bridge, wharf, flyover, and other application. PC Bridge girders have two types: Pre - tensioned girders and post - tensioned girders. In pre tensioned girders, prestressing in carried out first then after that the fresh concrete poured. The prestressing process in only carried off after the concrete has sufficient strength. In this study, analysis was conducted for PCI bridge girder with span is 40 meters. Based on the data geometry bridge dimension girder, material girder, and material strands cable, it will be analyzed to calculate the natural frequencies and moment capacity using finite element program (Midas/Civil program. So it can be estimated how much the percentage reduction prestress force on the bridge until PCI bridge structure collapses. From the calculation, it found that the pattern comparison between reduction prestressing force and natural frequency are linear. These results are also similar for natural frequency versus moment capacity.PCI bridge will collapse when the reduction prestreesing force of 45 % to 50 % from the total loss of prestressing.

The FRP-steel girder composite bridge system is increasingly used in new constructions of bridges as well as rehabilitation of old bridges. However, the understanding of composite action between FRP decks and steel girders is limited and needs to be systematically investigated. In this paper,

Nigerian Journal of Technology,. Vol. 34, No. 1, January 2015 87 bridges under the attack of pitting corrosion. Savkovic et al. [130] proposed an optimum solution to optimization of the box section of the main girder of the bridge crane. Reduction of the girder mass was set as the objective function. Optimum dimensions of the.

Full Text Available In this paper, the general behavior of reinforced concrete hybrid box girders is studied by experimental and numerical investigation. Experimental work is included casting monolithically five specimens of box girders with trapezoidal cross section and testing it as simply supported under two point loading. Two specimens were cast as homogenous box girders (full normal strength concrete (NSC (about 35 MPa and full high strength concrete (HSC (about 55 MPa and three specimens were cast as hybrid box girders (HSC in upper flange only, HSC in upper flange and half depth of webs, and HSC in bottom flange and total depth of webs. Experimental results showed significant effects of concrete hybridization on the structural behavior of box girders specimens such as: cracking loads, cracking patterns, ultimate strengths, and failure modes. The ultimate strength of Hybrid box girders increased by 23% as average when compared with the homogenous box girder (full NSC and decreased by 9% as average when compared with homogenous box girder (full HSC. In numerical investigation, the tested specimens were modeled and analyzed using three dimensional non-linear finite element analysis. The analysis was carried out by using a computer program (ANSYS V16.1. The numerical results showed an acceptable agreement with the experimental work with difference about (3.12% and 9.588% as average for ultimate load and deflection, respectively.

This report is covering the structural design and full scale test of a box girder as a part of the project ''Demonstration of new blade design using manufacturing process simulations'' supported by the EUDP program. A box girder with a predetermined outer geometry was designed using new inventions, which create an inner structure in the box girder. With a combination of advanced FEM analysis and the inventions it was possible to reduce the material thickness of the cap by up to 40%. The new design of the box girder was manufactured at SSP Technology A/S, where it was demonstrated that the manufacturing process could include the new inventions. Subsequently the box girder was transported to the blade test facility at DTU Wind Energy. A series of test was performed with the blade to investigate the behaviour during loading, and finally the girder was loaded to ultimate failure. The report includes the description of the test setup, the test and an overview over the results from the test performed on the box girder. During the final test the box girder failed at 58 % of the expected ultimate load. Unfortunately, no definite conclusion could be made concerning the failure mechanism. (Author)

A Japanese team has found a way to bend and shape silicon substrates by growing a thin layer of diamond on top. The technique has been proposed as an alternative to mechanical bending, which is currently used to make reflective lenses for X-ray systems and particle physics systems (2 paragraphs).

To investigate the prevalence of occipital bending (an occipital lobe crossing or twisting across the midline) in subjects with schizophrenia and matched healthy controls. Occipital bending prevalence was investigated in 37 patients with schizophrenia and 44 healthy controls. Ratings showed that prevalence was nearly three times higher among schizophrenia patients (13/37 [35.1%]) than in control subjects (6/44 [13.6%]). Furthermore, those with schizophrenia had greater normalized gray matter volume but less white matter volume and had larger brain-to-cranial ratio. The results suggest that occipital bending is more prevalent among schizophrenia patients than healthy subjects and that schizophrenia patients have different gray matter-white matter proportions. Although the cause and clinical ramifications of occipital bending are unclear, the results infer that occipital bending may be a marker of psychiatric illness.

-deflection curves and modes of deformation for decks, stringer decks and deep thin-walled beams subjected to central or excentric point loads between transverse frames. Based on theory and experiments, various modelling aspects of the local/global failure of the beams are discussed. The agreement between......This paper is concerned with theoretical and experimental analysis of deep plastic collapse of a deck or deep girder subjected to an in-plane, concentrated load. A theory is derived which is valid until initition of fracture in the structure. The presented experimental results show load...

Full Text Available Girder is an important part of the bridge crane, which is also the main force element. In order to prevent accidents, it is necessary to collect the bridge crane girder stress data to analyse the fatigue life. This paper constructs a bridge crane girder strain acquisition system. The hardware system consists of sensors, connectors, data acquisition cards, wireless data transmission groups, POE power and host computer. The software system consists of NI MAX to interface with the computer's NI hardware and software resources,and LabVIEW programming to display and storage the girder strain data. Through this system, positions and working days strain data acquisition for the 50/10 t bridge crane girder gets the key positions strain data. The results show that the girder strain data acquisition system runs stably, channel signals of acquisition task transmit accurately, and the terminal data stores competely, meeting the detection requirements, which provides an important data support for the subsequent fatigue analysis and accurate remaining service life prediction of the crane girder.

Several parts that comprise the large scientific device should be installed and operated at the accurate three-dimensional location coordinates (X, Y, and Z) where they should be subjected to survey and alignment. The location of the aligned parts should not be changed in order to ensure that the electron beam parameters (Energy 10 GeV, Charge 200 pC, and Bunch Length 60 fs, Emittance X/Y 0.481 μm/0.256 μm) of PAL-XFEL (X-ray Free Electron Laser of the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory) remain stable and can be operated without any problems. As time goes by, however, the ground goes through uplift and subsidence, which consequently deforms building floors. The deformation of the ground and buildings changes the location of several devices including magnets and RF accelerator tubes, which eventually leads to alignment errors (∆X, ∆Y, and ∆Z). Once alignment errors occur with regard to these parts, the electron beam deviates from its course and beam parameters change accordingly. PAL-XFEL has installed the Hydrostatic Leveling System (HLS) to measure and record the vertical change of buildings and ground consistently and systematically and the Wire Position System (WPS) to measure the two dimensional changes of girders. This paper is designed to introduce the operating principle and design concept of WPS and discuss the current situation regarding installation and operation.

The use of high performance concretes to provide longer bridge spans has been limited due to the capacity of existing infrastructure to handle the load of the girders during transportation. The use of High Strength Lightweight Concrete (HSLW) can pro...

Full Text Available The paper presents Finite Element Analysis to determine the ultimate shear capacity of tapered composite plate girder. The effect of degree of taper on the ultimate shear capacity of tapered steel-concrete composite plate girder with a nonlinear varying web depth, effect of slenderness ratio on the ultimate shear capacity, and effect of flange stiffness on the ductility were considered as the parametric studies. Effect of concrete slab on the ultimate shear capacity of tapered plate girders was also considered and it was found to be so effective on the ultimate shear capacity of the tapered plate girder compared with the steel one. The accuracy of the finite element method is established by comparing the finite element with the results existing in the literature. The study was conducted using nonlinear finite element modelling with computer software LUSAS 14.7.

Continuity diaphragms used on skewed bents in prestressed girder bridges cause difficulties in detailing and : construction. Details for bridges with large diaphragm skew angles (>30) have not been a problem for LA DOTD. : However, as the skew angl...

The tensile force of pre-stressed concrete (PSC) girders is the most important factor for managing the stability of PSC bridges. The tensile force is induced using pre-stressing (PS) tendons of a PSC girder. Because the PS tendons are located inside of the PSC girder, the tensile force cannot be measured after construction using conventional NDT (non-destructive testing) methods. To monitor the induced tensile force of a PSC girder, an embedded EM (elasto-magnetic) sensor was proposed in this study. The PS tendons are made of carbon steel, a ferromagnetic material. The magnetic properties of the ferromagnetic specimen are changed according to the induced magnetic field, temperature, and induced stress. Thus, the tensile force of PS tendons can be estimated by measuring their magnetic properties. The EM sensor can measure the magnetic properties of ferromagnetic materials in the form of a B (magnetic density)-H (magnetic force) loop. To measure the B-H loop of a PS tendon in a PSC girder, the EM sensor should be embedded into the PSC girder. The proposed embedded EM sensor can be embedded into a PSC girder as a sheath joint by designing screw threads to connect with the sheath. To confirm the proposed embedded EM sensors, the experimental study was performed using a down-scaled PSC girder model. Two specimens were constructed with embedded EM sensors, and three sensors were installed in each specimen. The embedded EM sensor could measure the B-H loop of PS tendons even if it was located inside concrete, and the area of the B-H loop was proportionally decreased according to the increase in tensile force. According to the results, the proposed method can be used to estimate the tensile force of unrevealed PS tendons. PMID:28867790

The dynamic effect of moving loads on structures is treated as a dynamic magnification factor when resonant is not imminent. Studies have shown that the calculated magnification factors from field measurements could be higher than the values specified in design codes. It is the main aim of present paper to investigate the applicability and accuracy of a rule-based expression for calculation of dynamic magnification factor for lifting appliances used in marine industry. A steel box shape girder of a crane is considered and transient dynamic analysis using computer code ANSYS is implemented. Dynamic magnification factor is calculated for different loading conditions and compared with rule-based equation. The effects of lifting speeds, acceleration, damping ratio and position of cargo are examined. It is found that rule-based expression underestimate dynamic magnification factor.

Cellular steel section composite with a concrete deck is one of the most suitable superstructures in resisting torsional and warping effects induced by highway loading. This type of structure has inherently created new design problems for engineers in estimating its load distribution when subjected to moving vehicles. Indian Codes of Practice does not provide any specific guidelines for the design of straight composite concrete deck-steel multi-cell bridges. To meet the practical requirements arising during the design process, a simple design method is needed for straight composite multi-cell bridges in the form of load distribution factors for moment and shear. This work presents load distribution characteristics of straight composite multi-cell box girder bridges under IRC trains of loads.

Full Text Available In this paper, the behavior of spliced continuous reinforced concrete girders was experimentally investigated. The main objective was to examine the contribution of the carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP laminates in strengthening the spliced continuous reinforced concrete girders. Eight models of continuous reinforced concrete girder were constructed and tested. The test variables were strengthening the splice joints by different schemes of CFRP laminates, presence of horizontal stirrups through the interfaces of the joints and using binder material at the interfaces of the joints. The results showed that strengthening the continuous spliced girders with 45° inclined CFRP laminates led to an increase in the ultimate load in a range of (47 to 74%. Besides, strengthening the continuous spliced girder with horizontal CFRP laminates bonded at its lateral faces could increase the ultimate load by 70%. Additionally, the ultimate load of the continuous spliced girder was increased by (30% due to presence of the horizontal steel stirrups through the interfaces of the joints

The Compact LInear Collider (CLIC), currently under study at CERN, aims at the development of a Multi-TeV e+ e- collider. The micro-precision CLIC RF-structures will have an accelerating gradient of 100 MV/m and will be mounted and aligned on specially developed supporting girders. The girder fabrication constraints are dictated by stringent physics requirements. The micrometric pre-alignment over several kilometers of girders, allow for the CLIC structures to fulfill their acceleration and collision functionality. Study of such girders and their sophisticated alignment method, is a challenging case involving dedicated mechanical design as well as prototype production and experimental testing.

The integrity and efficiency of any national highway system relies on the condition of the various components. Bridges are fundamental elements of a highway system, representing an important investment and a strategic link that facilitates the transport of persons and goods. The cost to rehabilitate or replace a highway bridge represents an important expenditure to the owner, who needs to evaluate the correct time to assume that cost. Among the several factors that affect the condition of steel highway bridges, corrosion is identified as the main problem. In the USA corrosion is the primary cause of structurally deficient steel bridges. The benefit of regular high-pressure superstructure washing and spot painting were evaluated as effective maintenance activities to reduce the corrosion process. The effectiveness of steel girder washing was assessed by developing models of corrosion deterioration of composite steel girders and analyzing steel coupons at the laboratory under atmospheric corrosion for two alternatives: when high-pressure washing was performed and when washing was not considered. The effectiveness of spot painting was assessed by analyzing the corrosion on steel coupons, with small damages, unprotected and protected by spot painting. A parametric analysis of corroded steel girder bridges was considered. The emphasis was focused on the parametric analyses of corroded steel girder bridges under two alternatives: (a) when steel bridge girder washing is performed according to a particular frequency, and (b) when no bridge washing is performed to the girders. The reduction of structural capacity was observed for both alternatives along the structure service life, estimated at 100 years. An economic analysis, using the Life-Cycle Cost Analysis method, demonstrated that it is more cost-effective to perform steel girder washing as a scheduled maintenance activity in contrast to the no washing alternative.

Full Text Available Bridges have an important role in impacting the civilization, growth and economy of cities from ancient time until these days due to their function in reducing transportation cost and time. Therefore, development of bridges has been a knowledge domain in civil engineering studies in terms of their types and construction materials to confirm a reliable, safe, economic design and construction. Girder-bridge of concrete deck and I-beam girder has been used widely for short and medium span bridges because of ease and low-cost of fabrication. However, many theoretical and practical investigations are still undertaken regarding the type of beam girder; i.e steel composite or prestressed concrete. This paper evaluates the effect of bridge span and the type of girder on the capital cost and life cycle costs of bridges. Three types of girders were investigated in this research: steel composite, pre-tensioned pre-stressed concrete and post-tensioned pre-stressed concrete. The structural design was analyzed for 5 span lengths: 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40m. Then, the capital construction cost was accounted for 15 bridges according to each span and construction materials. Moreover, the maintenance required for 50 years of bridge life was evaluated and built up as whole life costs for each bridge. As a result of this study, the influence of both span length and type of girder on initial construction cost and maintenance whole life costs were assessed to support the decision makers and designers in the selection process for the optimum solution of girder bridges.

The very particular lattice of the AA required 2 types of dipole (bending magnets; BLG, long and narrow; BST, short and wide). The BLG had a steel length of 4.70 m, a good field width of 0.24 m, and a weight of about 70 t. Jean-Claude Brunet inspects the lower half of a BLG. For the BST magnets see 7811105 and 8006036.

Full Text Available The dynamic flexural behaviour of the railway bridge is influenced by its torsional behaviour. Especially, in the case of girder railway bridges, the dynamic response tends to amplify when the natural frequency in flexure (1st vibration mode is close to that in torsion (2nd vibration mode. In order to prevent such situation, it is necessary to adopt a flexural-to-torsional natural frequency ratio larger than 120%. This study proposes a solution shifting the natural frequency in torsion to high frequency range and restraining torsion by installing concrete panels on the bottom flange of the girder so as to prevent the superposition of the responses in the girder bridge. The applicability of this solution is examined by finite element analysis of the shift of the torsional natural frequency and change in the dynamic response according to the installation of the concrete panels. The analytical results for a 30 m-span girder railway bridge indicate that installing the concrete panels increases the natural frequency in torsion by restraining the torsional behaviour and reduces also the overall dynamic response. It is seen that the installation of 100 mm-thick concrete panels along a section of 4 m at both extremities of the girder can reduce the dynamic response by more than 30%.

Full Text Available The steel-concrete composite girder has been usually applied in the bridge and building structures, mostly consisting of concrete slab, steel girder, and shear connector. The current fatigue damage assessment for the composite girder is largely based on the strain values and concrete crack features, which is time consuming and not stable. Hence the vibration-based fatigue damage assessment has been considered in this study. In detail, a steel-steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC composite girder was tested. The steel fiber reinforced concrete is usually considered for dealing with the concrete cracks in engineering practice. The composite girder was 3.3m long and 0.45m high. The fatigue load and impact excitation were applied on the specimen sequentially. According to the test results, the concrete crack development and global stiffness degradation during the fatigue test were relatively slow due to the favourable performance of SFRC in tension. But on the other hand, the vibration features varied significantly during the fatigue damage development. Generally, it confirmed the feasibility of executing fatigue damage assessment of composite bridge based on vibration method.

Full Text Available This paper aims to evaluate the impact interaction between the abutment and the girder subjected to nonuniform seismic excitation. An impact model based on tests is presented by taking material properties of the backfill of the abutment into consideration. The conditional simulation is performed to investigate the spatial variation of earthquake ground motions. A two-span continuous steel box girder bridge is taken as the example to analyze and assess the pounding interaction between the abutment and the girder. The detailed nonlinear finite element (FE model is established and the steel girder and the reinforced concrete piers are modeled by nonlinear fiber elements. The pounding element of the abutment is simulated by using a trilinear compression gap element. The elastic-perfectly plastic element is used to model the nonlinear rubber bearings. The comparisons of the pounding forces, the shear forces of the nonlinear bearings, the moments of reinforced concrete piers, and the axial pounding stresses of the steel girder are studied. The made observations indicate that the nonuniform excitation for multisupport bridge is imperative in the analysis and evaluation of the pounding effects of the bridges.

Full Text Available In engineer design, basic complex method has not enough global search ability for the nonlinear optimization problem, so it mixed with particle swarm optimization (PSO has been presented in the paper,that is the optimal particle evaluated from fitness function of particle swarm displacement complex vertex in order to realize optimal principle of the largest complex central distance.This method is applied to optimization design problems of box girder of bridge crane with constraint conditions.At first a mathematical model of the girder optimization has been set up,in which box girder cross section area of bridge crane is taken as the objective function, and its four sizes parameters as design variables, girder mechanics performance, manufacturing process, border sizes and so on requirements as constraint conditions. Then complex method mixed with PSO is used to solve optimization design problem of cane box girder from constrained optimization studying approach, and its optimal results have achieved the goal of lightweight design and reducing the crane manufacturing cost . The method is reliable, practical and efficient by the practical engineer calculation and comparative analysis with basic complex method.

A dynamic model of a coupled train-girder-pier system is developed in this paper. Each vehicle in a train is modeled with 27 degrees-of-freedom for a 4-axle passenger coach or freight car, and 31 for a 6-axle locomotive. The bridge model is applicable to straight and curved bridges. The centrifugal forces of moving vehicles on curved bridges are considered in both the vehicle model and the bridge model. The dynamic interaction between the bridge and train is realized through an assumed wheel-hunting movement. A case study is performed for a test train traversing two straight and two curved multi-span bridges with high piers. The histories of the train traversing the bridges are simulated and the dynamic responses of the piers and the train vehicles are calculated. A field experiment is carried out to verify the results of the analysis, by which the lateral resonant train speed inducing the peak pier-top amplitudes and some other observations are validated.

Four large aperture superconducting bending magnets are being built for use in the experimental beams at the AGS. Each of these magnets is 2.5 m long and has a room temperature aperture of 20 cm. The magnets are similar in design to the dipoles being developed for ISABELLE and employ a low temperature iron core. Results are presented on the ''training'' behavior of the magnets and a comparison will be made with the smaller aperture versions of this design. The magnet field measurements include end fields and leakage fields as well as the harmonic components of the straight section of the magnet

In order to predict and model wrinkling which is caused by out of plane deformation due to compressive loading in the plane of the material during composite prepregs forming, it is necessary to quantitatively understand the relative magnitude of the bending stiffness. This study aims to examine the bending properties of out-of-autoclave (OOA) thermosetting prepreg under vertical cantilever test condition. A direct method for characterizing the bending behavior of composite prepregs was develo...

In order to examine problems and phenomena associated with space charge in a beam bending system, the beam dynamics code HICURB has been written. Its principal features include momentum variations, vertical and horizontal envelope dynamics coupled to the off-axis centroid, curvature effect on fields, and images. Preliminary results for an achromatic lattice configuration are presented

In order to examine problems and phenomena associated with space charge in a beam bending system, the beam dynamics code HICURB has been written. Its principal features include momentum variations, vertical and horizontal envelope dynamics coupled to the off-axis centroid, curvature effect on fields, and images. Preliminary results for an achromatic lattice configuration are presented

Full Text Available Numerous experimental and numerical studies on prismatic plate girders subjected to shear can be found in the literature. However, the real structures are frequently designed as non-uniform structural elements. The main objective of the research is the development of a new proposal for the calculation of the ultimate shear resistance of tapered steel plate girders taking into account the specific behaviour of such members. A new mechanical model is presented in the paper and it is used to show the differences between the behaviour of uniform and tapered web panels subjected to shear. EN 1993-1-5 design specifications for the determination of the shear strength for rectangular plates are improved in order to assess the shear strength of tapered elements. Numerical studies carried out on tapered steel plate girders subjected to shear lead to confirm the suitability of the mechanical model and the proposed design expression.

The first proposed lattice for a ‘diffraction-limited light source’ is reported. This approach has now more or less been used for the MAX IV project. By the beginning of 1990, three third-generation synchrotron light sources had been successfully commissioned in Grenoble, Berkeley and Trieste (ESRF, ALS and ELETTRA). Each of these new machines reached their target specifications without any significant problems. In parallel, already at that time discussions were underway regarding the next generation, the ‘diffraction-limited light source (DLSR)’, which featured sub-nm rad electron beam emittance, photon beam brilliance exceeding 10{sup 22} and the potential to emit coherent radiation. Also, at about that time, a first design for a 3 GeV DLSR was developed, based on a modified multiple-bend achromat (MBA) design leading to a lattice with normalized emittance of ∊{sub x} = 0.5 nm rad. The novel feature of the MBA lattice was the use of seven vertically focusing bend magnets with different bending angles throughout the achromat cell to keep the radiation integrals and resulting beam emittance low. The baseline design called for a 400 m ring circumference with 12 straight sections of 6 m length. The dynamic aperture behaviour of the DLSR lattice was estimated to produce > 5 h beam lifetime at 100 mA stored beam current.

This study examines the formability of a porous tantalum foam, known as trabecular metal (TM). Used as a bone ingrowth surface on orthopedic implants, TM is desirable due to its combination of high strength, low relative density, and excellent osteoconductive properties. This research aims to develop bend and stretch forming as a cost-effective alternative to net machining and EDM for manufacturing thin parts made of TM. Experimentally, bending about a single axis using a wiping die was studied by observing cracking and measuring springback. It was found that die radius and clearance strongly affect the springback properties of TM, while punch speed, embossings, die radius and clearance all influence cracking. Depending on the various combinations of die radius and clearance, springback factor ranged from .70-.91. To examine the affect of the foam microstructure, bending also was examined numerically using a horizontal hexagonal mesh. As the hexagonal cells were elongated along the sheet length, elastic springback decreased. This can be explained by the earlier onset of plastic hinging occurring at the vertices of the cells. While the numerical results matched the experimental results for the case of zero clearance, differences at higher clearances arose due to an imprecise characterization of the post-yield properties of tantalum. By changing the material properties of the struts, the models can be modified for use with other open-cell metallic foams

A bend test was developed to obtain ductility measurements on a large number of alloy variants being irradiated in the form of miniature disks. Experimental results were shown to be in agreement with a theoretical analysis of the bend configuration. Disk specimens fabricated from the unstrained grip ends of previously tested tensile specimens were used for calibration purposes; bend ductilities and tensile ductilities were in good agreement. The criterion for estimating ductility was judged acceptable for screening purposes

Full Text Available A reliability assessment method for prestressed concrete (PSC continuous box-girder bridges based on structural health monitoring (SHM strain measurements was proposed. First, due to the fact that measured strain was compositive and the variation periods of its components were different, a series of limit state equations under normal use limit state were given. Then, a linear fitting method was used to determine the relationship between the ambient temperature and the measured strain, which was aimed at extracting the vehicle load effect and the temperature load effect from the measured strain. Finally, according to the equivalent normalization method, the load effects unsatisfying the normal distribution by probability density function fitting were transformed, and the daily failure probabilities of monitored positions were calculated for evaluating the safety state of the girder. The results show that (1 the top plate of the box girder is more sensitive than the bottom plate to the high temperature, (2 the daily and seasonal strain variations induced by uniform temperature reveal an inconsistent tendency to the seasonal variation for mid-span cross sections, and (3 the generalized extreme value distribution is recommended for temperature gradient stress and vehicle induced stress fitting for box-girder bridges.

The integration of optical fibre strain sensors in concrete structures in order to measure deformations has proven to be successful in several applications. Examples of monitored structures by the Magnel Laboratory for Concrete Research are a concrete girder bridge over the Ring Canal by Ghent, a Quay wall at the Ring Canal and a trough girder containing a railway track of a bridge [1,2]. Based on a joint research project the feasibility of integrating Bragg grating sensors in concrete in order to statically and dynamically monitor 17.6 m long prestressed concrete girders has been investigated. During the project 3 post-tensioned concrete girders were tested, submitting them to static and dynamic loading conditions and monitoring the structural behavior with several types of measuring devices, including accelerometers, Bragg gratings, Fabry-Perot gratings, deformeters, crack microscopes, etc. The obtained test results demonstrate the feasibility of optical strain sensors for both static and dynamic measurements. Though it was demonstrated, in the case of dynamic monitoring, that optical strain measurements can be used to directly measure the modal strains, the project also demonstrated that for prestressed concrete the variation in dynamic parameters was insufficient for adequate dynamic monitoring and related damage diagnostics.

Research highlights: → An applicability of FE model of RC girders with sand cushion has been investigated. → Experimental and numerical results of Impact force, reaction force and displacement have been performed. → Cracks obtained from numerical models are in good agreement with the experimental ones. → Reaction force-displacement loops agree well between numerical and experimental results. → The configuration of the hysteretic loop at failure of RC girders can be approximated by a parallelogram. - Abstract: In order to establish a proper finite element model of prototype RC girder with sand element for impact response analysis, dynamic response analysis of RC girders with sand cushion subjected to impact force due to weight falling from the height of H = 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 m was performed to improve the state of the art of protective design for real scale rock-sheds by using LS-DYNA code. An applicability of proposed model was discussed comparing with experimental results (e.g. impact force, reaction force and displacement waves). From this study, dynamic characteristics of impact response can be better simulated by using the proposed model. As a result, when the sand cushion was set up, the impact force, reaction force, mid-span displacement waves, distribution of reaction force-displacement loops, and crack patterns obtained from the numerical analysis are in good agreement with those from the experimental results.

After several years of operation, a box girder bridge would commonly experience excessive deflection, which endangers the bridge’s life span as well as the safety of vehicles travelling on it. In order to avoid potential risks, it is essential to constantly monitor the defection of box girders. However, currently, the direct deflection monitoring methods are limited by the complicated environments beneath the bridges, such as rivers or other traffic lanes, which severely impede the layouts of the sensors. The other indirect deflection monitoring methods mostly do not thoroughly consider the inherent shear lag effect and shear deformation in the box girder, resulting in a rather large error. Under these circumstances, a deflection monitoring method suiting box girders is proposed in this article, based on the conjugate beam method and distributed long-gauge fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensor. A lab experiment was conducted to verify the reliability and feasibility of this method under practical application. Further, the serviceability under different span-depth ratios and web thicknesses was examined through a finite element model.

This study develops a novel buckling-based mechanism to measure the thermal response of prestressed concrete bridge girders under continuous temperature changes for structural health monitoring. The measuring device consists of a bilaterally constrained beam and a piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride transducer that is attached to the beam. Under thermally induced displacement, the slender beam is buckled. The post-buckling events are deployed to convert the low-rate and low-frequency excitations into localized high-rate motions and, therefore, the attached piezoelectric transducer is triggered to generate electrical signals. Attaching the measuring device to concrete bridge girders, the electrical signals are used to detect the thermal response of concrete bridges. Finite element simulations are conducted to obtain the displacement of prestressed concrete girders under thermal loads. Using the thermal-induced displacement as input, experiments are carried out on a 3D printed measuring device to investigate the buckling response and corresponding electrical signals. A theoretical model is developed based on the nonlinear Euler–Bernoulli beam theory and large deformation assumptions to predict the buckling mode transitions of the beam. Based on the presented theoretical model, the geometry properties of the measuring device can be designed such that its buckling response is effectively controlled. Consequently, the thermally induced displacement can be designed as limit states to detect excessive thermal loads on concrete bridge girders. The proposed solution sufficiently measures the thermal response of concrete bridges. (paper)

This study develops a novel buckling-based mechanism to measure the thermal response of prestressed concrete bridge girders under continuous temperature changes for structural health monitoring. The measuring device consists of a bilaterally constrained beam and a piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride transducer that is attached to the beam. Under thermally induced displacement, the slender beam is buckled. The post-buckling events are deployed to convert the low-rate and low-frequency excitations into localized high-rate motions and, therefore, the attached piezoelectric transducer is triggered to generate electrical signals. Attaching the measuring device to concrete bridge girders, the electrical signals are used to detect the thermal response of concrete bridges. Finite element simulations are conducted to obtain the displacement of prestressed concrete girders under thermal loads. Using the thermal-induced displacement as input, experiments are carried out on a 3D printed measuring device to investigate the buckling response and corresponding electrical signals. A theoretical model is developed based on the nonlinear Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and large deformation assumptions to predict the buckling mode transitions of the beam. Based on the presented theoretical model, the geometry properties of the measuring device can be designed such that its buckling response is effectively controlled. Consequently, the thermally induced displacement can be designed as limit states to detect excessive thermal loads on concrete bridge girders. The proposed solution sufficiently measures the thermal response of concrete bridges.

The objective of this study was to develop an objective, quantitative method for evaluating damage to bridge girders by using artificial neural networks (ANNs). This evaluation method, which is a supplement to visual inspection, requires only the res...

During the interstate expansion of the 1950s, many conventionally reinforced concrete deck girder bridges were built throughout the country. These aging bridges commonly exhibit diagonal cracking and rate inadequately for shear, thus they are candida...

During the interstate expansion of the 1950s, many conventionally reinforced concrete deck girder bridges were built throughout the country. These aging bridges commonly exhibit diagonal cracking and rate inadequately for shear, thus they are candida...

During the interstate expansion of the 1950s, many conventionally reinforced concrete deck girder bridges were built throughout the country. These aging bridges commonly exhibit diagonal cracking and rate inadequately for shear, thus they are candida...

"This research investigated the durability of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites (CFRP) used for shear strengthening reinforced concrete deck girders. Large beams were used to avoid accounting for size effects in the data analysis. The effort...

During the interstate expansion of the 1950s, many conventionally reinforced concrete deck girder bridges were built throughout the country. These aging bridges commonly exhibit diagonal cracking and rate inadequately for shear, thus they are candida...

Because of public construction budgets were cut over the last few years, new bridge girders with corrugated webs to reduce the construction costs have become more widely studied and used. In spite that tapered bridge girders with corrugated webs (BGCWs) are used in modern bridges, their shear strength and behaviour rarely exists in literature. Based on available literature, the web of the linearly tapered BGCWs may be divided into three typologies with different structural response to shear f...

Full Text Available In bridge engineering, girders with corrugated steel webs have shown good mechanical properties. With the promotion of composite bridge with corrugated steel webs, in particular steel-concrete composite girder bridge with corrugated steel webs, it is necessary to study the shear performance and buckling of the corrugated webs. In this research, by conducting experiment incorporated with finite element analysis, the stability of H shape beam welded with corrugated webs was tested and three failure modes were observed. Structural data including load-deflection, load-strain, and shear capacity of tested beam specimens were collected and compared with FEM analytical results by ANSYS software. The effects of web thickness, corrugation, and stiffening on shear capacity of corrugated webs were further discussed.

Full Text Available This paper presents experimental study to retrofitted reinforced concrete Hollow Section Bridge. The study was carried out on the White River Bridge structure (Bai xi da Qiao / China. The effect of retrofitting on stress and strain of beams at the critical section was studied. Evaluating the bridges girder after strengthening using new material called PolyurethaneCement material (PUC as an external material .This study present the strain and deflection before and after strengthening the bridge girders. The results has shown that the overall state of the bridge structural strengthening is in good condition. The enhancement was significant in stiffness of the bridge structure. Regarding to the results of static load test, the experimental values strain and deflection are less than theoretical values, indicating that the stiffness of the structure, overall deformation and integrity satisfy the designed and standard requirements and the working performance are in good condition, and flexure capacity has a certain surplus.

Ensuring the designed prestress force is very important for the safety of prestressed concrete bridge. The loss of prestress force in tendon could significantly reduce load carrying capacity of the structure. In this study, an automated prestress-loss monitoring system for prestressed concrete girder using PZT-interface and wireless impedance sensor node is presented. The following approaches are carried out to achieve the objective. Firstly, wireless impedance sensor nodes are designed for automated impedance-based monitoring technique. The sensor node is mounted on the high-performance Imote2 sensor platform to fulfill high operating speed, low power requirement and large storage memory. Secondly, a smart PZT-interface designed for monitoring prestress force is described. A linear regression model is established to predict prestress-loss. Finally, a system of the PZT-interface interacted with the wireless sensor node is evaluated from a lab-scale tendon-anchorage connection of a prestressed concrete girder

To address the drawback of traditional method of investigating dynamic responses of the continuous girder bridge with uniform cross-section under moving vehicular loads, the orthogonal experimental design method is proposed in this paper. Firstly, some empirical formulas of natural frequencies are obtained by theoretical derivation and numerical simulation. The effects of different parameters on dynamic responses of the vehicle-bridge coupled vibration system are discussed using our own progr...

A new kind of bend sensor is introduced.It can be used to detect the bend angle of an object or inclination between two objects.It has characteristics of small size, lightweight, high reliability, fine flexibility and plasticity.When this bend sensor is used with a proper converting circuit, it can implement dynamic measuring the bend angle of an object conveniently.The application of the bend sensor in dataglove is also described.

Discussions were given on crossing joints of diaphragms on hanger fixing sections and U-ribs on lower flanges in reinforcing box girders of a suspension bridge, as to their local stress generating behavior and effects of cope holes on fatigue strength. The test pieces have dimensions and shapes modeling the crossing joints, and the steel materials are SM490YA for upper and lower flanges and webs, and SS400 for U-ribs. The loading test was performed with four-point bending and at loading amplitudes of 30 to 45 tf. Furthermore, stress analysis was conducted by using the finite element method. The following conclusions were obtained as a result: local stress at cope hole tips decreases and fatigue strength increases with the smaller the cope hole diameter; when the cope holes are back-filled completely, deformation is concentrated on welds of the U-ribs and the flanges, generating high local stress; this reduces significantly the fatigue strength of details having no cope holes; and no particular differences are found on effects of boxing of the cope hole tips on the fatigue strength. 7 refs., 10 figs., 3 tabs.

Full Text Available In this research work the influence of composition and curing conditions in bending strength of polyester and epoxy concrete is analyzed. Various mixtures of resin and aggregates were considered in view of an optimal combination. The Taguchi methodology was applied in order to reduce the number of tests, and in order to evaluate the influence of various parameters in concrete properties. This methodology is very useful for the planning of experiments. Test results, analyzed by this methodology, shown that the most significant factors affecting bending strength properties of resin concretes are the type of resin, resin content and charge content. An optimal formulation leading to a maximum bending strength was achieved in terms of material parameters.

In existing and proposed liquid metal fast breeder reactor design the pipework has considerable importance. Parts of the LMFBR include thin walled short radius bends which are expected to operate in the creep regime. In linear elasticity it is known that the assumption of long radius bends is not too severe as far as the flexibility characteristics are concerned although some modifications are necessary for accurate determination of the stresses. No data exists for nonlinear creep. Current work is aimed at elucidating the effect of the various assumptions common to linear elastic theory in so far as they affect the creep characteristics of bends on systems. Herein an energy based analysis using a simple n power constitutive law for stationary creep is employed to derive basic design data for flexibilities and stresses which will be necessary before complete systems can be assessed for creep. The analysis shows on comparison with the long radius work that the assumption of R>r is not much more restrictive in creep than for linear elasticity. Flexibilities for short radius bends appear to be well approximated by the long radius values. Thus the attractive reference stress information already derived may be used directly to find deformations without a complete knowledge of the constitutive relationship. However, stresses are somewhat different. Fortunately the maximum deviation occurs at relatively low levels of stress, the peak stresses being in fair agreement. When n=1 the present results reduce essentially to those obtained from existing linear elastic theory

Full Text Available The maglev vehicle-girder coupled vibration problem has been encountered in many maglev test or commercial lines, which significantly degrade the performance of the maglev train. In previous research on the principle of the coupled vibration problem, it has been discovered that the fundamental model of the maglev girder can be simplified as a series of mass-spring resonators of different but related resonance frequencies, and that the stability of the vehicle-girder coupled system can be investigated by separately examining the stability of each mass-spring resonator – electromagnet coupled system. Based on this conclusion, a maglev test platform, which includes a single electromagnetic suspension control system, is built for experimental study of the coupled vibration problem. The guideway of the test platform is supported by a number of springs so as to change its flexibility. The mass of the guideway can also be changed by adjusting extra weights attached to it. By changing the flexibility and mass of the guideway, the rules of the maglev vehicle-girder coupled vibration problem are to be examined through experiments, and related theory on the vehicle-girder self-excited vibration proposed in previous research is also testified.

For next-generation nuclear reactors, hybrid safety systems which consist of active and passive safety systems have been planned. Steam generators with horizontal U bend pipelines will be used as one of the passive safety systems. It is required to clarify flow characteristics, especially the onset of flooding, in the horizontal U bend pipelines in order to examine their safety. Flooding in vertical pipes has been studied extensively. However, there is little study on flooding in the horizontal U bend pipelines. It is supposed that the onset of flooding in the horizontal U bend pipelines is different from that in vertical pipes. On the other hand, liquid is generated due to condensation of steam in pipes of the horizontal steam generators at the loss of coolant accident because the steam generators will be used as a condenser of a cooling system of steam from the reactor. It is necessary to simulate this situation by the supply of water at the middle of horizontal pipe. In the present paper, experiments were carried out using a horizontal U bend pipeline with a liquid supply section in the midway of pipeline. The onset of flooding in the horizontal U bend pipeline was measured. Effects of the length of horizontal pipe and the radius of U bend on the onset of flooding were discussed

For next-generation nuclear reactors, hybrid safety systems which consist of active and passive safety systems have been planned. Steam generators with horizontal U bend pipelines will be used as one of the passive safety systems. It is required to clarify flow characteristics, especially the onset of flooding, in the horizontal U bend pipelines in order to examine their safety. Flooding in vertical pipes has been studied extensively. However, there is little study on flooding in the horizontal U bend pipelines. It is supposed that the onset of flooding in the horizontal U bend pipelines is different from that in vertical pipes. On the other hand, liquid is generated due to condensation of steam in pipes of the horizontal steam generators at the loss of coolant accident because the steam generators will be used as a condenser of a cooling system of steam from the reactor. It is necessary to simulate this situation by the supply of water at the middle of horizontal pipe. In the present paper, experiments were carried out using a horizontal U bend pipeline with a liquid supply section in the midway of pipeline. The onset of flooding in the horizontal U bend pipeline was measured. Effects of the length of horizontal pipe and the radius of U bend on the onset of flooding were discussed.

This paper focuses on the trend in international energy companies towards vertical integration in the gas chain from wellhead to power generation, horizontal integration in refining and marketing businesses, and the search for larger projects with lower upstream costs. The shape of the petroleum industry in the next millennium, the creation of super-major oil companies, and the relationship between size and risk are discussed. The dynamics of vertical integration, present events and future developments are considered. (UK)

Second order coupling terms for sector bending magnets due to edge effects at high energy are reviewed. Motion in the horizontal plane (bending plane) and in the vertical (nonbending) plane is considered. The model of Heaviside's function is outlined. The case of the complete bending magnet is treated. Three second order coupling terms between the vertical and horizontal planes in a complete bending magnet are found. Their origin is the fringing field, i.e., the intensity difference of the magnetic field between the outside and the inside of the magnet

Flanges in piping systems and also pressure vessel flanges on tall columns are often subjected to longitudinal bending moments of considerable magnitude, be it from thermal expansion stresses in piping systems or from wind or seismic loadings on tall vertical pressure vessels. Except for the ASME Code, Section III, Subsections NB, NC, and ND, other pressure vessel and piping codes do not contain design ASME Nuclear Power Plant Code (Section III), an empirical formula is given, expressing a longitudinal bending moment in bolted flanged connections in terms of an equivalent internal pressure to be added to the design pressure of the flange. In this paper, an attempt is made to analyse the stresses on flanges and bolting due to external bending moments and to compare flange thicknesses thus obtained with thicknesses required using the equivalent design pressure specified in Subsections NB, NC, and ND. A design method is proposed, based on analysis and experimental work, which may be suitable for flange bending moment analysis when the rules of the Nuclear Power Plant Code are not mandatory. (orig.)

A miniaturized disk bend test (MDBT) using transmission electron microscopy specimens for the determination of various mechanical properties is being developed at MIT. Recent progress in obtaining strengths and ductilities of highly irradiated metal alloys is reviewed. Other mechanical properties can also be obtained using the MDBT approach. Progress in fatigue testing and in determination of the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature is reviewed briefly. 11 figures

The prupose of this paper is to propose a methodology to assess the time-variant ultimate strength of ship hull girder under the degradations of corrosion and fatigue. The effects of fatigue cracks on the tensile and compressive residual ultimate strength of stiffened panels and unstiffened plates......, webs and flanges, respectively. The effects of inspections and repair are taken into account. A minimum net thickness rule is used to determine repair policies. A procedure is proposed to determine the maximum allowable corrosion thickness of different parts of the hull cross section. The procedure...

Importance of the bridge structures as components of the transportation network is increasing and requires regular development of the management methodology. The main activities are focused on the safety of the users of the transportation network and on the safety of structures, based on monitoring and analysis of the bridge condition changes caused by various types of defects. The paper presents application of the hybrid network technology in the expert tool NOBLA supporting condition assessment of bridge plate girders, taking into account defects of the structures.

Aiming at the low accuracy of traditional forecasting methods such as linear regression method, this paper presents a prediction method for predicting the relationship between bridge steel box girder and its displacement with wavelet neural network. Compared with traditional forecasting methods, this scheme has better local characteristics and learning ability, which greatly improves the prediction ability of deformation. Through analysis of the instance and found that after compared with the traditional prediction method based on wavelet neural network, the rigid beam deformation prediction accuracy is higher, and is superior to the BP neural network prediction results, conform to the actual demand of engineering design.

A report on design and execution of cable-stayed composite girder bridge with precast RC-slabs constructed first in Japan though in small scale was described. This bridge adopted steel slabs relatively low in slab height for main slab and with two boxes slab section, and was designed at an aim of being more economic and shorter in its working term in comparison with steel girder slab type, on a base of the design in a region allowable with the existing design standards. This bridge is mainly in accordance with the regulation on continuous bridge in the prescription of road bridge, and is designed for normal RC-girder selecting between girder supports to direction normal to bridge axis as usual without using specially strong concrete to the girder. And, in order to fill with the regulation on allowable tensile stress on considering effects of creep and drying shrinkage, a method adding prestress to the slabs was adopted. Furthermore, a loop-like overlap joint for cable joint for the precast girders, expansion concrete for joint portion to compose the girder with the steel slab and so forth were adopted. 12 refs., 22 figs., 5 tabs.

Full Text Available Based on the nonlinear stability analysis method, the 3D nonlinear finite element model of a composite girder cable-stayed bridge with three pylons is established to research the effect of factors including geometric nonlinearity, material nonlinearity, static wind load, and unbalanced construction load on the structural stability during construction. Besides, the structural nonlinear stability in different construction schemes and the determination of temporary pier position are also studied. The nonlinear stability safety factors are calculated to demonstrate the rationality and safety of construction schemes. The results show that the nonlinear stability safety factors of this bridge during construction meet the design requirement and the minimum value occurs in the maximum double cantilever stage. Besides, the nonlinear stability of the structure in the side of edge-pylon meets the design requirement in the two construction schemes. Furthermore, the temporary pier can improve the structure stability, effectively, and the actual position is reasonable. In addition, the local buckling of steel girder occurs earlier than overall instability under load in some cable tension stages. Finally, static wind load and the unbalanced construction load should be considered in the stability analysis for the adverse impact.

Curved steel bridges are commonly used at interchanges in transportation networks and more of these structures continue to be designed and built in the United States. Though the use of these bridges continues to increase in locations that experience high seismicity, the effects of curvature and other parameters on their seismic behaviors have been neglected in current risk assessment tools. These tools can evaluate the seismic vulnerability of a transportation network using fragility curves. One critical component of fragility curve development for curved steel bridges is the completion of sensitivity analyses that help identify influential parameters related to their seismic response. In this study, an accessible inventory of existing curved steel girder bridges located primarily in the Mid-Atlantic United States (MAUS) was used to establish statistical characteristics used as inputs for a seismic sensitivity study. Critical seismic response quantities were captured using 3D nonlinear finite element models. Influential parameters from these quantities were identified using statistical tools that incorporate experimental Plackett-Burman Design (PBD), which included Pareto optimal plots and prediction profiler techniques. The findings revealed that the potential variation in the influential parameters included number of spans, radius of curvature, maximum span length, girder spacing, and cross-frame spacing. These parameters showed varying levels of influence on the critical bridge response.

This report presents the setup and result of a full-scale test of a reinforced glass fibre/epoxy box girder used in 34m wind turbine blade. The tests were performed at the Blaest test facility in August 2006. The test is an important part of a research project established in cooperation between...... Risø DTU, the National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy at the Technical University of Denmark -, SSP-Technology A/S and Blaest (Blade test centre A/S) and it has been performed as a part of Find Mølholt Jensen‟s PhD study. This report contains the complete test data for the final test, in which...... the box girder was loaded until failure. A comprehensive description of the test setup is given. This report deals only with tests and results. There are no conclusions on the data in this report, but references are given to publications, where the data are used and compared with FEM etc. Various kinds...

Full Text Available This paper introduces a novel quay crane design, double girder bridge crane (DGBC. DGBC is capable of handling containers of two adjacent bays simultaneously, avoiding crane collisions, saving travelling and reposition cost, and eventually improving terminal efficiency. This problem is formulated as a resource-constrained project scheduling with objective to minimize the maximum completion time. A two-stage heuristic algorithm is proposed in which an operating sequences on each bay is obtained by double cycling, and the integrated timetable for both bays is constructed by solving resource conflicts using the proposed minimum cost strategy. We examine effectiveness and performance of applying DGBC with double cycling. A case study is presented to illustrate how DGBC works with the two-stage method. Three extreme cases with respective conflict types are investigated to develop the performance bounds of DGBC with double cycling. The results show that DGBC can significantly improve terminal productivity, and outperforms single girder crane in both makespan and the lift operation percentage. The highest DGBC efficiency does not require maximum double cycles in two bay schedules; rather the integrated timetable for two bays is the main contribution to the DGBC performance as it yields better cooperation between two spreaders and the driver.

This article looks at the attempts by Gulf States Utilities to get the River Bend Nuclear Plant into its rate base. The review begins with the initial filing of rate cases in Texas and Louisiana in 1986 and continues through many court cases and appeals all the way to the Texas Supreme Court. The preferred and preference shareholders now nominally control the company through election of 10 of 15 members of the company's board of directors. This case is used as an argument for deregulation in favor of competition

A novel damage identification method for concrete continuous girder bridges based on spatially-distributed long-gauge strain sensing is presented in this paper. First, the variation regularity of the long-gauge strain influence line of continuous girder bridges which changes with the location of vehicles on the bridge is studied. According to this variation regularity, a calculation method for the distribution regularity of the area of long-gauge strain history is investigated. Second, a numerical simulation of damage identification based on the distribution regularity of the area of long-gauge strain history is conducted, and the results indicate that this method is effective for identifying damage and is not affected by the speed, axle number and weight of vehicles. Finally, a real bridge test on a highway is conducted, and the experimental results also show that this method is very effective for identifying damage in continuous girder bridges, and the local element stiffness distribution regularity can be revealed at the same time. This identified information is useful for maintaining of continuous girder bridges on highways.

For the extraction of the beam from the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) to ring 2 of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the CERN Neutrino to Gran Sasso (CNGS)facility, a new fast-extraction system is being constructed in the long straight section LSS4 of the SPS. Besides extraction bumpers, enlarged aperture quadrupoles and extraction kicker magnets (MKE), six conventional DC septum magnets (MSE) are used. These magnets are mounted on a single rigid support girder, pre-aligned so as to follow the trajectory of the extracted beam and optimise the available aperture. The girder has been motorised in order to optimise the local SPS aperture during setting up, so as to avoid the risk of circulating beam impact on the septum coils. In this note, we briefly present the trajectory and apertures of the beam, we describe the calculations and methods that have been used to determine the magnet position on the girder, and finally we report on the details of the girder movement and alignment.

A discussion of useful stochastic procedures for stochastic wave load problems is given, covering the range from slightly linear to strongly non-linear (bifurcation) problems. The methods are: Hermite transformation, Critical wave episodes and the First Order Reliability Method (FORM). The proced......). The procedures will be illustrated by results for the extreme vertical wave bending moment in ships....

Preliminary investigations have been made in the Langley gust tunnel to determine the effects of a sharp-edge vertical gust on the blade flapwise vibratory bending moments of small model rotors having...

Many accidents of Ro-Ro ships happen in Indonesia such as collision and grounding. When the collision or grounding takes place on the Ro-Ro ship, the ultimate strength of hull structure after damage becomes decrease. Car and passenger decks are critical location since collision and/or grounding occur. In the present study, the assessment of the ultimate hull girder strength is conducted. The cross section of Ro-Ro ship is taken to be analyzed. The collision and grounding damages are assumed to be palced on the side and bottom area, respectively. The damages are created by removing the element from the side shell and bottom part. Finally, the result obtained is compared with one another.

This article presents the possibility of using structural health monitoring system data for the analysis of structure’s operation during its life cycle. Within the specific case study it was proved, that continuous, automatic and long term monitoring of selected physical quantities such as strains and temperatures, can significantly improve the assessment of technical condition by identifying hazardous phenomena. In this work the analysis of structural behaviour of post-tensioned girders within the roofing of sport halls in Cracow, Poland, was performed based on measurement results and verified by numerical model carried out in SOFiSTiK software. Thanks to the possibility of performing calculations in real time and informing the manager of the object about abnormalities it is possible to manage the structure in effective way by, inter alia, planning the renovations or supporting decisions about snow removal.

Recently, as a means of resolving the issue of legal liability in the event of an accident or a disaster, a wide variety of simulation techniques, such as structural and structure-fluid interaction analysis, have been used in the field of forensic engineering. The plate girder bridge discussed in this paper was being constructed between a pier and an abutment to expand an existing bridge, but an accident whereby the bridge overturned occurred at the end of the concrete laying process for a protective wall. This accident was caused by additional loads not being considered at the time of the design as well as the actual construction being different from the design. The additional loads ultimately generated a negative support force. In this study, we determined the cause of the accident by comparing the structural stability of the original design with that of the additional, non-conforming construction using MIDAS structural analysis.

Recently, as a means of resolving the issue of legal liability in the event of an accident or a disaster, a wide variety of simulation techniques, such as structural and structure-fluid interaction analysis, have been used in the field of forensic engineering. The plate girder bridge discussed in this paper was being constructed between a pier and an abutment to expand an existing bridge, but an accident whereby the bridge overturned occurred at the end of the concrete laying process for a protective wall. This accident was caused by additional loads not being considered at the time of the design as well as the actual construction being different from the design. The additional loads ultimately generated a negative support force. In this study, we determined the cause of the accident by comparing the structural stability of the original design with that of the additional, non-conforming construction using MIDAS structural analysis

Full Text Available Recently, the rebar bending methodology started to change from field processing to utilizing rebar bending machines at plant sites prior to transport to the construction locations. Computerized control of rebar plant bending machines provides more accurate and faster bending of rebars than the low quality inefficient field processing alternative. The bending process involves plastic deformation of rebars, where bending stress beyond the yield point of the material is applied. When the bending stress is removed, spring back is caused by the elastic restoring stress. Therefore, an accurate numerical analysis of the spring-back process is required to reduce the bending process errors. The most sensitive factors affecting the spring-back process are the bending radius, the bending angle, the diameter of the rebar, the friction coefficient, and the yielding strength of material. In this paper, we suggest a numerical modeling method using these factors. The finite element modeling of the dynamic mechanical behavior of the material during bending is performed using a commercial dynamic analysis program “DAFUL.” We use the least squares approach to derive the spring-back deflection as a function of the rebar bending parameters.

A hybrid or mixed structure (composite structures) are a matter of increasing concern which takes in each advantage of steel and concrete. A field of bridges is no exception, with the plan and construction carried out for the new type of composite bridge, such as a composite cable-stayed bridge and a composite extra dose bridge as a long span bridge, and a composite truss bridge and a corrugated steel plate web bridge as a medium-span bridge, with technological development becoming active in this field. In such a technological trend, a hybrid two-girder structure was devised, a structure consisting of a concrete filled steel pipe for a girder and a precast (PC) floor plate for a floor board, as the girder structure of a long-span cable-stayed bridge in the subject research; also, applicability was examined using, as an example, the composite cable-stayed bridge with hybrid girders employed for the span. This paper reports the result of the analysis of the entire system, the analysis made for the purpose of examining the characteristic and the feasibility of this hybrid girder. The analysis revealed the structural feasibility of the long-span composite cable-stayed bridge using two hybrid girders of concrete-filled steel pipes thus devised. (NEDO)

We investigate the performance of bends and splitters in graphene nanoribbon waveguides. Although the graphene waveguides are lossy themselves, we show that bends and splitters do not induce any additional loss provided that the nanoribbon width is sub-wavelength. We use transmission line theory...

Based on three-Dimensional (3-D) FE limit analyses, this paper provides plastic limit and TES(Twice- Elastic-Slope) loads for pipe bends under combined pressure and out-of-plane bending. The plastic limit loads are determined from FE limit analyses based on elastic.perfectly-plastic materials using the small geometry change option, and the FE limit analyses using the large geometry change option provide TES plastic loads. A wide range of parameters related to the bend geometry is considered. Based on the FE results, closed-form approximations of plastic limit and TES plastic load solutions for pipe bends under out-of-plane bending are proposed

The objectives of these tests were to obtain experimental results on bends behaviour in elastic and plastic regime by in plane and out of plane bending. Results were used to improve the computer model, for large distorsion of bends, to be used in a simplified beam type computer code for piping calculations. Tests were made on type ANSI B 169 DN 5 bends in ASTM A 106 Grade B carbon steel. These tests made it possible to measure, for identical bends, in elastic regime, the flexibility factors and, in plastic regime, the total evolution in opening, in closing and out of plane. Flexibility factors of 180 0 bend without flanges are approximately the same in opening and in closing. The end effect due to flanges is not very significant, but it is important for 90 0 bends. In plastic regime, collapse loads or collapse moments of bends depends also of both the end effects and the angle bend. The end effects and the angle bend are more sensitive in opening than in closing. The interest of these tests is to procure some precise evolution curves of identical bends well characterized in geometry and metal strength, deflected in large distorsions. (orig./HP)

Full Text Available Structure natural frequency and mode of vibration can not only reflect the structure modal parameters of dynamic properties, but also incarnate the dynamic evaluation characteristics of bridge structure. This paper applies ANSYS to establish the finite element model based on a continuous steel box girder bridge in order to obtain the corresponding modal analysis parameters. Through the environmental stimulation test, The results show that height of the steel box girder and the setting of diaphragm plate is reasonable, transverse space of piers not merely provide enough support but also ensure lateral stability of the bridge, as well as offering aside the maximum lateral clearance of the existing road. Meanwhile, the calculation results have important engineering practical values. which can provide basic data for the design, construction and maintenance of similar Bridges.

The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge is 3,911m long with a center span of 1,991m, making it the longest suspension bridge in the world. Much careful attention has been given to the erection planning details in order to construct the bridge to withstand the harsh environmental conditions of that area. This report details the characteristics of the bridge stiffening girder and erection procedure, and the effects of the Hyogoken-Nanbu Earthquake. (author)

Structural health monitoring (SHM) has attracted much attention in recent years, which enables early warnings of structural failure, condition assessments, and rational maintenance/repair strategies. In the context of bridges, many long-span steel bridges in China have been installed with the SHM systems; however, the applications of the SHM in prestressed concrete (PSC) bridges are still rather limited. On the other hand, the PSC box girder bridges are extensively used in highway and railway...

We explore the electrostatic bending response of a chain of charged particles confined on a finite helical filament. We analyze how the energy difference Δ E between the bent and the unbent helical chain scales with the length of the helical segment and the radius of curvature and identify features that are not captured by the standard notion of the bending rigidity, normally used as a measure of bending tendency in the linear response regime. Using Δ E to characterize the bending response of the helical chain we identify two regimes with qualitatively different bending behaviors for the ground state configuration: the regime of small and the regime of large radius-to-pitch ratio, respectively. Within the former regime, Δ E changes smoothly with the variation of the system parameters. Of particular interest are its oscillations with the number of charged particles encountered for commensurate fillings which yield length-dependent oscillations in the preferred bending direction of the helical chain. We show that the origin of these oscillations is the nonuniformity of the charge distribution caused by the long-range character of the Coulomb interactions and the finite length of the helix. In the second regime of large values of the radius-to-pitch ratio, sudden changes in the ground state structure of the charges occur as the system parameters vary, leading to complex and discontinuous variations in the ground state bending response Δ E .

A shell structure of glass combines a highly effective structural principle with a material of optimal permeability to light. A facetted shell structure has a piecewise plane geometry, and together the facets form an approximation to a curved surface. A distributed load on a plane-based facetted...... structure will locally cause bending moments in the loaded facets. The bending stresses are dependent on the stiffness of the joints. Approximate solutions are developed to estimate the magnitude of the bending stresses. A FE-model of a facetted glass shell structure is used to validate the expressions...

Kinematic forming processes shape geometries by the process parameters to achieve a more universal process utilizations regarding geometric configurations. The kinematic forming process Incremental Swivel Bending (ISB) bends sheet metal strips or profiles in plane. The sequence for bending an arc increment is composed of the steps clamping, bending, force release and feed. The bending moment is frictionally engaged by two clamping units in a laterally adjustable bending pivot. A minimum clamping force hindering the material from slipping through the clamping units is a crucial criterion to achieve a well-defined incremental arc. Therefore, an analytic description of a singular bent increment is developed in this paper. The bending moment is calculated by the uniaxial stress distribution over the profiles' width depending on the bending pivot's position. By a Coulomb' based friction model, necessary clamping force is described in dependence of friction, offset, dimensions of the clamping tools and strip thickness as well as material parameters. Boundaries for the uniaxial stress calculation are given in dependence of friction, tools' dimensions and strip thickness. The results indicate that changing the bending pivot to an eccentric position significantly affects the process' bending moment and, hence, clamping force, which is given in dependence of yield stress and hardening exponent. FE simulations validate the model with satisfactory accordance.

During the summer of 2010 (September October 2010), the Volpe Center collected baseline acoustical data at Big Bend National Park (BIBE) at four sites deployed for approximately 30 days each. The baseline data collected during this period will he...

This is a slice of a LEP dipole bending magnet, made as a concrete and iron sandwich. The bending field needed in LEP is small (about 1000 Gauss), equivalent to two of the magnets people stick on fridge doors. Because it is very difficult to keep a low field steady, a high field was used in iron plates embedded in concrete. A CERN breakthrough in magnet design, LEP dipoles can be tuned easily and are cheaper than conventional magnets.

Full Text Available Channel bends are one of the most important characteristic features of natural streams. These bends often create the conditions for a hyporheic zone, which has been recognized as a critical component of stream ecosystems. The streambed vertical hydraulic conductivity (Kv, vertical hydraulic gradient (VHG and Darcian flux (DF in the hyporheic zone were estimated at 61 locations along a channel bend of the Beiluo River during July 2015 and January 2016. All the streambed attributes showed great spatial variability along the channel bend. Both upward fluxes and downward fluxes occurred during the two test periods, most of studied stream sections were controlled by downwelling, indicating stream water discharge into the subsurface. The average downward flux was higher at the downstream side than at the upstream side of the channel bend, especially in July 2015. The distribution of streambed sediment grain size has a significant influence on the variability of Kv; high percentages of silt and clay sediments generally lead to low Kv values. Higher Kv at the depositional left bank at the upstream site shifted toward the erosional right bank at the downstream site, with Kv values positively correlated with the water depth. This study suggested that the variabilities of Kv and VHG were influenced by the stream geomorphology and that the distribution of Kv was inversely related, to a certain extent, to the distribution of VHG across the channel bend. Kv and VHG were found to have opposite effects on the DF, and the close relationship between Kv and DF indicated that the water fluxes were mainly controlled by Kv.

Measuring small normal pressures is essential to accurately evaluate external stimuli in curvilinear and dynamic surfaces such as natural tissues. Usually, sensitive and spatially accurate pressure sensors are achieved through conformal contact with the surface; however, this also makes them sensitive to mechanical deformation (bending). Indeed, when a soft object is pressed by another soft object, the normal pressure cannot be measured independently from the mechanical stress. Here, we show a pressure sensor that measures only the normal pressure, even under extreme bending conditions. To reduce the bending sensitivity, we use composite nanofibres of carbon nanotubes and graphene. Our simulations show that these fibres change their relative alignment to accommodate bending deformation, thus reducing the strain in individual fibres. Pressure sensitivity is maintained down to a bending radius of 80 μm. To test the suitability of our sensor for soft robotics and medical applications, we fabricated an integrated sensor matrix that is only 2 μm thick. We show real-time (response time of ∼20 ms), large-area, normal pressure monitoring under different, complex bending conditions.

Highlights: • The origin of sound-like dispersion of graphene bending mode is disclosed. • The speed of graphene bending sound is determined. • The renormalized graphene bending rigidity is derived. • The intrinsic corrugations of graphene are estimated. - Abstract: It is proved that the acoustic-type dispersion of bending mode in graphene is generated by the fluctuation interaction between in-plane and out-of-plane terms in the free energy arising with account of non-linear components in the graphene strain tensor. In doing so we use an original adiabatic approximation based on the alleged (confirmed a posteriori) significant difference of sound speeds for in-plane and bending modes. The explicit expression for the bending sound speed depending only on the graphene mass density, in-plane elastic constants and temperature is deduced as well as the characteristics of the microscopic corrugations of graphene. The obtained results are in good quantitative agreement with the data of real experiments and computer simulations.

Highlights: • The origin of sound-like dispersion of graphene bending mode is disclosed. • The speed of graphene bending sound is determined. • The renormalized graphene bending rigidity is derived. • The intrinsic corrugations of graphene are estimated. - Abstract: It is proved that the acoustic-type dispersion of bending mode in graphene is generated by the fluctuation interaction between in-plane and out-of-plane terms in the free energy arising with account of non-linear components in the graphene strain tensor. In doing so we use an original adiabatic approximation based on the alleged (confirmed a posteriori) significant difference of sound speeds for in-plane and bending modes. The explicit expression for the bending sound speed depending only on the graphene mass density, in-plane elastic constants and temperature is deduced as well as the characteristics of the microscopic corrugations of graphene. The obtained results are in good quantitative agreement with the data of real experiments and computer simulations.

The beam-transport line from the AGS to CBA requires 68 large bending magnets, consisting of pure dipoles and two types of combined function gradient magnets. All three types were designed with magnetic-field calculation program POISSON, using the same exterior dimensions and coil package. The design goal of +-1% momentum acceptance for the transport line required a wide horizontal aperture, with a much-smaller vertical aperture for economy. Two prototypes of one gradient magnet were built, and a facility constructed to measure them and the later production magnets. Measurements were done using both a long coil and a point coil (Rawson-Lush gaussmeter). Preliminary results show δB/B - 3 , δG/G - 2 , and δB 2 /B - 4 cm - 2 over the beam aperture. Due to end effects, the actual gradient differs from the design gradient by 1%, which has been compensated for in the beam-line design

This paper describes the creep analysis and torsional vibration analysis of cable-stayed bridges with two edge composite girders. The girder is composed of the concrete slab and the steel girder. I-girders are placed at both edges of the profile. Such a type of bridge was investigated. As the stress migrates by the creep of concrete slab, it is necessary to evaluate the influence of this creep precisely in designing. In the analysis, the composite girder was expressed not by the single member, but by the binary member consisting of concrete member and steel member. Two methods were employed, i.e., method A in which both members are connected by the rigid body beam and method B in which the profile of concrete is converted into the profile of steel. The method A provided better accuracy, but the method B was often sufficient. Torsional rigidity of the open profile structure was much smaller than that of the box profile. As the torsional natural frequency was low, proper torsional vibration analysis was indispensable especially from the viewpoint of wind resistance. Two methods were employed, which utilize the vibration analysis method for general space frame structures. Results of both methods were agreed mutually, but the second method provided better calculation efficiency. 10 refs., 9 figs., 6 tabs.

This paper provides a method to estimate plastic loads (defined by twice-elastic-slope) for pipe bends under combined in-plane and out-of-plane bending moment, based on detailed 3-D FE limit analyses using elastic-perfectly plastic materials. Because closing bending moment is always lower than opening bending moment, the combination of in-plane closing bending and out-of-plane bending moment becomes the most significant case. Due to conservatism of each bending moments, the resultant moment provided by ASME B and PV code is unduly conservative. However, the concept of the resultant moment is still valid. In this paper, FE results show that the accurate solutions of bending moments provide better estimates of plastic loads of pipe bend under combined in-plane bending and out-of-plane bending moment

Full Text Available This study aims to undertake a statistical study to evaluate the accuracy of nine models that have been previously proposed for estimating the ultimate resistance of plate girders subjected to patch loading. For each model, mean errors and standard errors, as well as the probability of underestimating or overestimating patch load resistance, are estimated and the resultant values are compared one to another. Prior to that, the models are initially calibrated in order to improve interaction formulae using an experimental data set collected from the literature. The models are then analyzed by computing design factors associated with a target risk level (probability of exceedance. These models are compared one to another considering uncertainties existed in material and geometrical properties. The Monte Carlo simulation method is used to generate random variables. The statistical parameters of the calibrated models are calculated for various coefficients of variations regardless of their correlation with the random resistance variables. These probabilistic results are very useful for evaluating the stochastic sensitivity of the calibrated models.

This paper presents a wireless ultrasonic wavefield imaging (WUWI) technique for detecting hidden damage inside a steel box girder bridge. The proposed technique allows (1) complete wireless excitation of piezoelectric transducers and noncontact sensing of the corresponding responses using laser beams, (2) autonomous damage visualization without comparing against baseline data previously accumulated from the pristine condition of a target structure and (3) robust damage diagnosis even for real structures with complex structural geometries. First, a new WUWI hardware system was developed by integrating optoelectronic-based signal transmitting and receiving devices and a scanning laser Doppler vibrometer. Next, a damage visualization algorithm, self-referencing f-k filter (SRF), was introduced to isolate and visualize only crack-induced ultrasonic modes from measured ultrasonic wavefield images. Finally, the performance of the proposed technique was validated through hidden crack visualization at a decommissioned Ramp-G Bridge in South Korea. The experimental results reveal that the proposed technique instantaneously detects and successfully visualizes hidden cracks even in the complex structure of a real bridge. (paper)

Full Text Available Based on the basic theory of wavelet neural networks and finite element model updating method, a basic framework of damage prognosis method is proposed in this paper. Firstly, a damaged I-steel beam model testing is used to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed damage prognosis method. The results show that the predicted results of the damage prognosis method and the measured results are very well consistent, and the maximum error is less than 5%. Furthermore, Xinyihe Bridge in the Beijing-Shanghai Highway is selected as the engineering background, and the damage prognosis is conducted based on the data from the structural health monitoring system. The results show that the traffic volume will increase and seasonal differences will decrease in the next year and a half. The displacement has a slight increase and seasonal characters in the critical section of mid span, but the strain will increase distinctly. The analysis results indicate that the proposed method can be applied to the damage prognosis of girder bridge structures and has the potential for the bridge health monitoring and safety prognosis.

Full Text Available To address the drawback of traditional method of investigating dynamic responses of the continuous girder bridge with uniform cross-section under moving vehicular loads, the orthogonal experimental design method is proposed in this paper. Firstly, some empirical formulas of natural frequencies are obtained by theoretical derivation and numerical simulation. The effects of different parameters on dynamic responses of the vehicle-bridge coupled vibration system are discussed using our own program. Finally, the orthogonal experimental design method is proposed for the dynamic responses analysis. The results show that the effects of factors on dynamic responses are dependent on both the selected position and the type of the responses. In addition, the interaction effects between different factors cannot be ignored. To efficiently reduce experimental runs, the conventional orthogonal design is divided into two phases. It has been proved that the proposed method of the orthogonal experimental design greatly reduces calculation cost, and it is efficient and rational enough to study multifactor problems. Furthermore, it provides a good way to obtain more rational empirical formulas of the DLA and other dynamic responses, which may be adopted in the codes of design and evaluation.

Full Text Available The paper deals with the proposal and application of a procedure for the seismic retrofit of an existing multispan prestressed concrete girder bridge defined explicitly for the use of friction pendulum devices as an isolation system placed between piers top and deck. First, the outcomes of the seismic risk assessment of the existing bridge, performed using an incremental noniterative Nonlinear Static Procedure, based on the Capacity Spectrum Method as well as the Inelastic Demand Response Spectra, are described and discussed. Then, a specific multilevel design process, based on a proper application of the hierarchy of strength considerations and the Direct Displacement-Based Design approach, is adopted to dimension the FPD devices. Furthermore, to assess the impact of the FPD nonlinear behaviour on the bridge seismic response, a device model that reproduces the variation of the normal force and friction coefficient, the bidirectional coupling, and the large deformation effects during nonlinear dynamic analyses was used. Finally, the paper examines the effects of the FPD modelling parameters on the behaviour of the retrofitted bridge and assesses its seismic response with the results pointing out the efficiency of the adopted seismic retrofit solution.

In this paper, a wind tunnel analysis of two degrees-of-freedom system represented by sectional girders is carried out. Besides an evaluation of the aeroelastic coefficients, the analysis is focused on the influence of the natural frequency ratio on the initiation of unstable vibration, which can be of practical interest. On the phenomenological level, the paper also discusses experimentally ascertained response regimes, with an emphasis on their stability character. The attention is paid to the memory effect in the response described by the hysteresis loop together with the separation curves determining the stability boundaries. The influence of initial disturbance on the stability is examined. Two types of cross-sections were investigated: (i) rectangular one with the aspect ratio 1:5, and (ii) bridge-like cross-section with comparable principal dimensions. For both types of cross-sections, the limits of the stability are significantly affected by an intentionally introduced initial disturbance. This holds especially with regard to the rectangular profile where the separation curves create very narrow sub-domains between a stable and an unstable response, while the bridge-like cross-section demonstrates much stable behaviour.

This paper presents the implementation of an updating procedure for the finite element model (FEM) of a prestressed concrete continuous box-girder highway off-ramp bridge. Ambient vibration testing was conducted to excite the bridge, assisted by linear chirp sweepings induced by two small electrodynamic shakes deployed to enhance the excitation levels, since the bridge was closed to traffic. The data-driven stochastic subspace identification method was executed to recover the modal properties from measurement data. An initial FEM was developed and correlation between the experimental modal results and their analytical counterparts was studied. Modelling of the pier and abutment bearings was carefully adjusted to reflect the real operational conditions of the bridge. The subproblem approximation method was subsequently utilized to automatically update the FEM. For this purpose, the influences of bearing stiffness, and mass density and Young's modulus of materials were examined as uncertain parameters using sensitivity analysis. The updating objective function was defined based on a summation of squared values of relative errors of natural frequencies between the FEM and experimentation. All the identified modes were used as the target responses with the purpose of putting more constrains for the optimization process and decreasing the number of potentially feasible combinations for parameter changes. The updated FEM of the bridge was able to produce sufficient improvements in natural frequencies in most modes of interest, and can serve for a more precise dynamic response prediction or future investigation of the bridge health.

Bend failures are described for non-heated boiler tubes of 12Kh1MF and 20 steels. Methods of reliability evaluations are presented which permit revealing and replacing the bends with inadequate resources. Influences of operation conditions on bend durability is shown as well as the factors which are dominating at bend failures

Using molecular statics simulations and the embedded atom method, a technique for bending silver nanowires and calculating Young's modulus via continuum mechanics has been developed. The measured Young's modulus values extracted from bending simulations were compared with modulus values calculated from uniaxial tension simulations for a range of nanowire sizes, orientations and geometries. Depending on axial orientation, the nanowires exhibit stiffening or softening under tension and bending as size decreases. Bending simulations typically result in a greater variation of Young's modulus values with nanowire size compared with tensile deformation, which indicates a loading-method-dependent size effect on elastic properties at sub-5 nm wire diameters. Since the axial stress is maximized at the lateral surfaces in bending, the loading-method-dependent size effect is postulated to be primarily a result of differences in nanowire surface and core elastic modulus. The divergence of Young's modulus from the bulk modulus in these simulations occurs at sizes below the range in which experiments have demonstrated a size scale effect on elastic properties of metallic nanowires. This difference indicates that other factors beyond native metallic surface properties play a role in experimentally observed nanowire elastic modulus size effects

A two-point bending technique has been used not only to measure the breaking stress of optical fiber but also to predict its static and dynamic fatigue. The present theory of this test is based on elastica theory of rod. However, within the limits of elastica theory the tensile and shear stresses cannot be determined. In this paper we study dynamic and static problems for optical fiber in the two- point bending test on the base of geometrically exact theory in which rod can suffer flexure, extension, and shear. We obtain the governing partial differential equations taking into account the fact that the lateral motion of the fiber is restrained by the presence of flat parallel plates. We develop the computational methods for solving the initial and equilibrium free-boundary nonlinear planar problems. We derive the formulas for predicting of the tensile strength from strength in the bending and calculate one example.

A PC cable-stayed bridge under extension construction having long span length may have long-cycle vibration generated because of wind. The vibration puts workers working on main girders into a state of seasick causing the workability to drop. Therefore, with an objective to reduce vibration occurring on the main girders during construction, discussions were given on application of an active type vertical vibration absorbing device. The vibration absorbing device is an active system that a weight is driven vertically by a hydraulic actuator. The device was developed with a target that damping ratio when a maximum extension is 120 m becomes three times that when no vibration is absorbed for a 5-span continuous PC cable-stayed bridge with a length of 675 m, a central span of 260 m, and a width of 11 m. A cage housing the weight is connected with the actuator at its top by using pins, and the weight is supported being suspended from the top of the actuator. Vibration is absorbed by utilizing reactive force generated when the weight is driven vertically by the hydraulic actuator. The hydraulic actuator contains a gas spring that supports the dead weight of the weight. Experiments have verified the effectiveness of the vertical vibration absorbing device. 4 refs., 12 figs., 3 tabs.

The longitudinal gradient bend is an effective method for reducing the natural emittance in light sources. It is, however, not a common element. We have analyzed its magnetic field and derived a set of formulae. Based on the derivation, we discuss how to model the longitudinal gradient bend in accelerator codes that are used for designing electron storage rings. Strengths of multipole components can also be evaluated from the formulae, and we investigate the impact of higher order multipole components in a very low emittance lattice.

Slice through an LHC superconducting dipole (bending) magnet. The slice includes a cut through the magnet wiring (niobium titanium), the beampipe and the steel magnet yokes. Particle beams in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have the same energy as a high-speed train, squeezed ready for collision into a space narrower than a human hair. Huge forces are needed to control them. Dipole magnets (2 poles) are used to bend the paths of the protons around the 27 km ring. Quadrupole magnets (4 poles) focus the proton beams and squeeze them so that more particles collide when the beams’ paths cross. There are 1232 15m long dipole magnets in the LHC.

The study of elastic membranes carrying topological defects has a longstanding history, going back at least to the 1950s. When allowed to buckle in three-dimensional space, membranes with defects can totally relieve their in-plane strain, remaining with a bending energy, whose rigidity modulus is small compared to the stretching modulus. In this paper we study membranes with a single edge dislocation. We prove that the minimum bending energy associated with strain-free configurations diverges logarithmically with the size of the system.

This thesis aims to study the structural consequences of the damages produced by vehicle impact in a pres-stressed concrete bridge girder and the repair procedure in a real case-study damaged after the bridge was opened to service. From the analysis of the situation of the beam and its damage state, a study of the repair actions carried out on this beam has been analyzed in order to determine the efficiency of the repair and if other alternatives are possible or more efficient. A stat...

To avoid unacceptable vibration of the storage ring quadrupoles, and to ensure that the established vibration criteria are satisfied, the philosophy from inception of the APS has been (1) to locate and design the machine to minimize motion of the storage ring basemat and, (2) following construction, to monitor machine operation and user experiments to ensure that vibration sources are not introduced. This report addresses the design of the storage ring girder support assemblies, and, specifically, the effect of the pedestal/floor interface on the dynamic characteristics (i.e., resonant frequencies, damping, and mode shape)

Orbit kinks in FCC tunnel are under discussions for they can help to reduce the depth of few shafts [1]. Still two unwanted effects could make their use completely forbidden. The vertical emittance growth due to verticalbending and vertical dispersion is one of these concerns [2]. Another concern is the need to somehow compensate strong distortions of spin motion [3]. Here I present an idea of how we can simultaneously solve both these problems.

Highlights: • Microstructure and corrosion performance are compared for two structural steels. • Microstructure evolution shows primarily ferrite-pearlite in both the steels. • Steels show higher corrosion rate in 1% HCl solution than in 3.5% NaCl solution. • The corrosion products show the presence of oxide, hydroxide and oxy-hydroxides. • The corroded surface reveals morphologies like flowery, cotton balls and rosette. - Abstract: A comparison on microstructure and corrosion performance has been made between the two structural steels used in old railway girder bridge (Sample A) and modern grades of weathering structural steel (Sample B). The microstructures, viewed under optical microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM), show mainly ferrite-pearlite phase constituents in both the steels, A and B. The phase fraction analysis shows higher amount of pearlite in steel A compared to that of steel B. The grain size of steel A is larger than that of steel B under identical processing condition. The immersion corrosion test in 3.5% NaCl shows that the corrosion rate of steel A increases with time, while the same for steel B decreases with time. On the other hand, corrosion test in 1% HCl shows that the corrosion rate of both steel A and B is higher as compared to that of NaCl which always decreases with time. The XRD analysis of corrosion products show the presence of many oxides, hydroxide and oxy-hydroxide like Lepidocrocite (γ-FeOOH), Goethite (α-FeOOH), Akaganeite (β-FeOOH), Magnetite (Fe_3O_4) and Maghemite (γ-Fe_2O_3) in both the steels. The SEM images of corroded surfaces reveal different morphologies like flowery, cotton balls and rosette etc. which indicate that the corrosion products primarily contain Lepidocrocite (γ-FeOOH), Goethite (α-FeOOH) and Akaganeite (β-FeOOH).

The accurate inspection of the duct condition in post-tensioned prestressed concrete (PPC) is an essential part of GPR concrete inspection. The purpose is to inspect the grouting condition of the ducts where the strands are located, to find out if there is a void in the ducts, and if any water exists. In order to investigate the radar image characteristics of different PPC duct defects, a number of model girders were manufactured. Three major ducts are included in our study: (1) well grouted and no void (normal condition); (2) the duct is half filled, and the void is filled by water or air; and (3) the duct is not filled at all, and the duct is water or air filled. The data corresponding to seven different situations are acquired and processed. It is found that the radar can detect the first interface in the duct, and the detailed structure inside the duct cannot be ‘seen’ from the images directly. Characteristic curves greatly help the interpretation. A completely void duct is the easiest to differentiate from the others. The signature for this situation is characterized by a strong and clear reflection interface which becomes weaker as the void is water filled. The normal condition shows the weakest reflection interface. As for the half void situation, the front scan shows a similar result to the normal condition whether it is water or air filled, and the back scan shows similar features to the completely void situation. The experiment and analysis is helpful and instructive for practical engineering inspection.

A research to develope a registrated testmethod to define the allowable bending moment of a nail was started in spring of this year. A request for a registrated testmethod is caused by the final project of ir. H.P.C.A. Vianen ‘s study. The consequence of developing new codes in The Netherlands and

Gravitational bending of light may not only lead to multiple imaging (gravitational lens effect), but also affects the apparent luminosity of a source. It is shown here that a mass distribution near the line-of-sight to any source always increases the observable flux relative to the case in which the deflector is absent

Engaging with the quilts of Gee's Bend offers a rich opportunity for students in grades four through eight to develop appreciation for pattern, rhythm, and innovation while learning about history, entrepreneurship, and political activism. By easily accessing print, film, and Internet resources teachers can include these vibrant quilts and…

To save iron and raise the flux density, the LEP bending magnet laminations were separated by spacers and the space between the laminations was filled with concrete. This is a demonstration model, part of it with the spaced laminations only, the other part filled with concrete.

A tubular lining material for pipelines having bends or curved portions comprises a tubular textile jacket made of warps and wefts woven in a tubular form overlaid with a coating of a flexible synthetic resin. It is applicable onto the inner surface of a pipeline having bends or curved portions in such manner that the tubular lining material with a binder onto the inner surface thereof is inserted into the pipeline and allowed to advance within the pipeline, with or without the aid of a leading rope-like elongated element, while turning the tubular lining material inside out under fluid pressure. In this manner the tubular lining material is applied onto the inner surface of the pipeline with the binder being interposed between the pipeline and the tubular lining material. The lining material is characterized in that a part of all of the warps are comprised of an elastic yarn around which, over the full length thereof, a synthetic fiber yarn or yarns have been left-and/or right-handedly coiled. This tubular lining material is particularly suitable for lining a pipeline having an inner diameter of 25-200 mm and a plurality of bends, such as gas service pipelines or house pipelines, without occurrence of wrinkles in the lining material in a bend.

Full Text Available In the present study, a fuzzy model was developed to predict the residual bending in a conventional metal bending process assisted by a high power diode laser. The study was focused on AA6082T6 aluminium thin sheets. In most dynamic sheet metal forming operations, the highly nonlinear deformation processes cause large amounts of elastic strain energy stored in the formed material. The novel hybrid forming process was thus aimed at inducing the local heating of the mechanically bent workpiece in order to decrease or eliminate the related springback phenomena. In particular, the influence on the extent of springback phenomena of laser process parameters such as source power, scan speed and starting elastic deformation of mechanically bent sheets, was experimentally assessed. Consistent trends in experimental response according to operational parameters were found. Accordingly, 3D process maps of the extent of the springback phenomena according to operational parameters were constructed. The effect of the inherent uncertainties on the predicted residual bending caused by the approximation in the model parameters was evaluated. In particular, a fuzzy-logic based approach was used to describe the model uncertainties and the transformation method was applied to propagate their effect on the residual bending.

The losses of aerosol particles in bends were determined numerically for a broad range of design and operational conditions. Experimental data were used to check the validity of the numerical model, where the latter employs a commercially available computational fluid dynamics code for characterizing the fluid flow field and Lagrangian particle tracking technique for characterizing aerosol losses. Physical experiments have been conducted to examine the effect of curvature ratio and distortion of the cross section of bends. If it curvature ratio ({delta} = R/a) is greater than about 4, it has little effect on deposition, which is in contrast with the recommendation given in ANSI N13.1-1969 for a minimum curvature ratio of 10. Also, experimental results show that if the tube cross section is flattened by 25% or less, the flattening also has little effect on deposition. Results of numerical tests have been used to develop a correlation of aerosol penetration through a bend as a function of Stokes number (Stk), curvature ratio ({delta}) and the bend angle ({theta}). 17 refs., 10 figs., 2 tabs.

A bend is a knot securely joining together two lengths of cord (or string or rope), thereby yielding a single longer length. There are many possible different bends, and a natural question that has probably occurred to many is: "Is there a 'best' bend and, if so, what is it?"Most of the well-known bends happen to be symmetric - that is, the two constituent cords within the bend have the same geometric shape and size, and interrelationship with the other. Such 'symmetric bends' have great beauty, especially when the two cords bear different colours. Moreover, they have the practical advantage o

The Maglev vehicle Transrapid is levitated by magnetic forces which pull the vehicles levitation frames toward the guideway from below. The magnets possess poles with alternating fluxes which are part of the synchronous long stator linear motor. Although the Transrapid glides along its guideway without mechanical contact, this alternation as well as the loading and unloading of the guideway girders excite vibrations of the ground. In order to calculate the time behavior of the vibrational emissions, a simulation of the transfer of a Transrapid vehicle over several guideway girders is proposed. The equations of motion for the vehicle and the girders are calculated separately by the MBS software NEWEUL and assembled and numerically integrated in MATLAB/SIMULINK. The control law for the magnet forces is simplified by the characteristics of linear spring-damper elements. The controlled magnet forces travel along the guideway continuously and include the dynamic component due to the alternating fluxes and the geometry of the poles and stator. Results of a complete vehicle moving along a guideway consisting of several girders can be obtained within a few minutes of computation time. Therefore, the mechanism of excitations can be analyzed by numerical time integration in the full state space. The results are validated by measurements of the forces in the joints of the guideway girders. The vibrational emission along the Transrapid guideway differs from the vibrations of contact-afflicted vehicles as no impacts and fewer stochastic effects occur

The Maglev vehicle Transrapid is levitated by magnetic forces which pull the vehicles levitation frames toward the guideway from below. The magnets possess poles with alternating fluxes which are part of the synchronous long stator linear motor. Although the Transrapid glides along its guideway without mechanical contact, this alternation as well as the loading and unloading of the guideway girders excite vibrations of the ground. In order to calculate the time behavior of the vibrational emissions, a simulation of the transfer of a Transrapid vehicle over several guideway girders is proposed. The equations of motion for the vehicle and the girders are calculated separately by the MBS software NEWEUL and assembled and numerically integrated in MATLAB/SIMULINK. The control law for the magnet forces is simplified by the characteristics of linear spring-damper elements. The controlled magnet forces travel along the guideway continuously and include the dynamic component due to the alternating fluxes and the geometry of the poles and stator. Results of a complete vehicle moving along a guideway consisting of several girders can be obtained within a few minutes of computation time. Therefore, the mechanism of excitations can be analyzed by numerical time integration in the full state space. The results are validated by measurements of the forces in the joints of the guideway girders. The vibrational emission along the Transrapid guideway differs from the vibrations of contact-afflicted vehicles as no impacts and fewer stochastic effects occur.

Full Text Available Structural health monitoring (SHM has attracted much attention in recent years, which enables early warnings of structural failure, condition assessments, and rational maintenance/repair strategies. In the context of bridges, many long-span steel bridges in China have been installed with the SHM systems; however, the applications of the SHM in prestressed concrete (PSC bridges are still rather limited. On the other hand, the PSC box girder bridges are extensively used in highway and railway systems and premature damage of these bridges is often reported, resulting in considerable maintenance and/or replacement costs. First, this paper presents a state-of-art review on the SHM of long-span PSC bridges. Monitoring strategies, methods, and previous applications for these bridges are summarized and discussed. In order to well capture the behavior of the bridge during its whole life and to maximize the use of sensors, a life-cycle monitoring strategy is proposed, in which the sensor layout is determined according to requirements for construction monitoring, completion test, and in-service monitoring. A case study is made on a three-span PSC box girder bridge in China. The system configuration, sensor layout, and data communications, and so forth, are presented. The up-to-date monitored structural responses are analyzed and compared with the design values.

Full Text Available To systematically study the vehicle–bridge coupled dynamic response and its change rule with different parameters, a vehicle model with seven degrees of freedom was built and the total potential energy of vehicle space vibration system was deduced. Considering the stimulation of road roughness, the dynamic response equation of vehicle–bridge coupled system was established in accordance with the elastic system principle of total potential energy with stationary value and the “set-in-right-position” rule. On the basis of the self-compiled Fortran program and bridge engineering, the dynamic response of long-span continuous girder bridge under vehicle load was studied. This study also included the calculation of vehicle impact coefficient, evaluation of vibration comfort, and analysis of dynamic response parameters. Results show the impact coefficient changes with lane number and is larger than the value calculated by the “general code for design of highway bridges and culverts (China”. The Dieckmann index of bridge vibration is also related to lane number, and the vibration comfort evaluation is good in normal conditions. The relevant conclusions from parametric analyses have practical significance to dynamic design and daily operation of long-span continuous girder bridges in expressways. Safety and comfort are expected to improve significantly with further control of the vibration of vehicle–bridge system.

Full Text Available Structural responses have been used as inputs in the evaluation procedures of civil structures for years. Apart from the degradation of a structure itself, changes in the environmental conditions affect its characteristics. For adequate maintenance, it is necessary to quantify the environment-induced changes and discriminate them from the effects due to damage. This study investigates the variation in the vibration responses of prestressed concrete (PC girders, which were deteriorated because of the alkali–silica reaction (ASR, concerning ambient temperature and humidity. Three PC girders were exposed to outdoor weather conditions outside the laboratory, one of which had a selected amount of fly ash in its mixture to mitigate the ASR. The girders were periodically vibration tested for one and a half years. It was found that when the temperature and humidity increased, the frequencies and damping ratios decreased in proportion. No apparent variation in the mode shapes could be identified. A finite element model was proposed for numerical verification, the results of which were in good agreement with the measured changes in the natural frequencies. Moreover, the different dynamic performances of the three specimens indicated that the fly ash significantly affected the vibrations of the PC girders under ASR deterioration.

ASTM G30 suggests that the applied strain can be calculated by dividing thickness by a bend radius. It should be noted, however, that the formula is reliable under an assumption that the ratio of thickness to bend radius is less than 0.2. Typically, to increase the applied stress/strain, the ratio of thickness to bend radius becomes larger than 0.2. This suggests that the estimated strain values by ASTM G30 are not reliable to predict the actual residual strain state of the highly deformed U-bend specimen. For this reason, finite element analysis (FEA) for the bending process of Ubend specimens was conducted by using a commercial finite element analysis software ABAQUS. ver.6.14- 2;2014. From the results of FEA, PWSCC initiation time and U-bend specimen size can be determined exactly. Since local stress and strain have a significant effect on the initiation of PWSCC, it was inappropriate to apply results of ASTM G30 to the PWSCC test directly. According to results of finite element analysis (FEA), elastic relaxation can cause inaccuracy in intended final residual stress. To modify this inaccuracy, additional process reducing the spring back is required. However this additional process also may cause uncertainty of stress/strain state. Therefore, the U-bending specimen size which is not creating uncertainty should be optimized and selected. With the bending radius of 8.3 mm, the thickness of 3 mm and the roller distance of 32.6 mm, calculated maximum stress and strain were 670 MPa and 0.21, respectively.

Hollow light guides with very high reflective inner surfaces are novel daylight systems that collect sunlight and skylight available on the roof of buildings transporting it into deep or windowless interiors in building cores. Thus the better utilization of daylight can result in energy savings and wellbeing in these enclosed indoor spaces. An analytical complex solution of a straight tube system was solved in the HOLIGILM method with a user-friendly tool available on the http://www.holigilm.info. An even more difficult light flow transport is to be determined in bended tubes usually placed on sloped roofs where a bend is necessary to adjust the vertical pass through the ceilings. This paper presents the theoretical derivation of the model with its graphical representation and coordinate system respecting backward ray-tracing bend distortions. To imagine the resulting illuminance on the horizontal plane element in the interior, the virtual ray (i.e. luminance in an elementary solid angle) has to pass the ceiling diffuser interface, the inner mirror like tube with a bend, through a roof cupola attachment to the element of the sky and sun light source. Due to this complexity and the lengthy derivation and explanations more practical applications will be published later in a separate contribution. (author)

Weight reduction of passenger cars is a promising direction of reducing the cost of their production and increasing transportation profitability. One way to reduce the weight of passenger cars is the lightweight metal body design by means of using of high-strength aluminum alloys, low-alloy and stainless steels. However, it has been found that the limit of the lightweight metal body design is not determined by the total mode of deformation, but its flexural rigidity, as the latter influences natural frequencies of body bending vibrations. With the introduction of mandatory certification for compliance with the Customs Union technical regulations, the following index was confirmed: “first natural frequency of body bending vibrations in the vertical plane”. This is due to the fact that vibration, noise and car motion depend on this index. To define the required indexes, the principles of the control method of bending vibration parameters of passenger car bodies are proposed in this paper. This method covers all stages of car design – development of design documentation, manufacturing and testing experimental and pilot models, launching the production. The authors also developed evaluation criteria and the procedure of using the results for introduction of control method of bending vibration parameters of passenger car bodies.

Incomplete, bending or bowing fractures of the mandibular condyle in children frequently go undetected. The reason is that the bending deformity often is subtle and passes for normal. This is especially true if the fractures are bilateral. (orig.)

Full Text Available The present work is aimed at studying the structural health status of Hunan Road Bridge, which is currently the widest concrete self-anchored suspension bridge in China. The monitoring data included the structural deformations, internal forces, and vibration characteristics from April 2015 to April 2016 were analyzed to evaluate the structural changes and safety. The influences brought by the ambient temperature changes and the dual effects composed of concrete shrinkage & creep (S&C and seasonal temperature changes were analyzed based on the measured data. The long-time effects of concrete S&C were predicted using the CEB-FIP 90 model and the age-adjusted effective modulus method based on the ANSYS beam finite element model. The measured data showed that the transverse displacements of towers were more significant than the longitudinal ones. The spatial effect of the extra-wide girder is significant, which performs as the longitudinal stresses change unevenly along the transverse direction. The seasonal ambient warming caused overall increases in girder compressive stresses, and the cooling resulted in decreases along with significant temperature gradient effects. The prediction results show that the cable anchoring positions at girder ends and tower tops will move towards the mid-span affected by concrete S&C. In terms of the middle region of mid-span girder, significant increases in longitudinal stresses of top plate and decreases in the ones of bottom plate will be caused by the significant deflection. Comprehensively, the increases in the girder compressive stresses of side-span bottom plate and mid-span top plate are worthy of attention when confronted with extreme high temperature during the bridge service life cycle.

A side effect of high-speed railway and urban rail transit systems is the associated vibration and noise. Since the use of concrete viaducts is predominant in railway construction due to scarce land resources, low-frequency (20-200 Hz) structure-radiated noise from concrete bridges is a principal concern. Although it is the most commonly used bridge type, the mechanism of noise emission from box-shaped bridge girders when subjected to impact forces from moving trains, which sounds like beating a drum, has not been well studied. In this study, a field measurement was first made on a simply-supported box-shaped bridge to record the acceleration of the slabs and the associated sound pressures induced by running trains. These data indicated that a significant beat-wave noise occurred in the box-shaped cavity when the train speed was around 340 km/h, which arose from the interference between two sound waves of 75.0 Hz and 78.8 Hz. The noise leakage from the bridge expansion joint was serious and resulted in obvious noise pollution near the bridge once the beat-wave noise was generated in the cavity. The dominant frequency of the interior noise at 75.0 Hz was confirmed from the spectrum of the data and the modal analysis results, and originated from the peak vibration of the top slab due to resonance and the first-order vertical acoustic mode, which led to cavity resonance, amplifying the corresponding noise. The three-dimensional acoustic modes and local vibration modes of the slab were calculated by using the finite element method. A simplified vehicle-track-bridge coupling vibration model was then developed to calculate the wheel-rail interaction force in a frequency range of 20-200 Hz. Numerical simulations using the boundary element method confirmed the cavity resonance effect and the numerical results agreed well with the data. Based on the calibrated numerical model, three noise reduction measures, i.e., adding a horizontal baffle in the interior cavity, narrowing

In the steam generator, heat transfer phenomenon for producing the steam between the primary system of the nuclear reactor and the secondary one occurs around the heat transfer tube. That is, the primary coolant with high temperature(320 .deg.. C) and high pressure(157Kgf/cm2) derived from the reactor flows in the heat transfer tube, and the secondary one runs out that tube. Therefore, it is able to mention that the heat transfer tube itself is a boundary of the heat transfer phenomenon. The heat transfer tube bundle of each steam generator used for the PWR and the PHWR(Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor) is generally composed of about 8,000-13,000 U-tubes. And these tubes are the core component as the structural and heat transfer material in the steam generator, which is in charge of cooling about 70% of the cooling surface of the primary system. For achieving the U-bending process with the thin walled tube, generally, a mandrel could be inserted in the tube according to the bending radius. But when the bending radius is small, the tube U-bending process could be also performed without the mandrel. In this study, numerical and experimental investigations on the U-bending process for producing the heat transfer tubes by using the straight and long tubes were carried out with the consideration of the elastic recovery after the U-bending. In the numerical approach, finite element analysis scheme was adopted with a commercial code, ABAQUS Implicit/Explicit. As the precedent study, the related experiment was also performed to verify the predicted results on the ovality and the minimum wall thickness of the U-bending heat transfer tube. Furthermore, its bending process was also conducted to analyze the deformation behavior for the Alloy 690 tube. In this study, the U-bending process was considered to simulate and manufactured the heat transfer tube used for the steam generator. To investigate the deformation behavior of the U-bending process, and a series of the

during testing is similar to the one in the production tool. A universal sheet tribo-tester has been developed, which can run multiple tests automatically from coil. This allows emulating the temperature increase as in production. The present work performs finite element analysis of the evolution......The tribological conditions in deep drawing can be simulated in the Bending Under Tension test to evaluate the performance of new lubricants, tool materials, etc. Deep drawing production with automatic handling runs normally at high rate. This implies considerable heating of the tools, which...... sometimes can cause lubricant film breakdown and galling. In order to replicate the production conditions in bending under tension testing it is thus important to control the tool/workpiece interface temperature. This can be done by pre-heating the tool, but it is essential that the interface temperature...

Pipe bends and elbows are one of the most common fluid mechanics elements that exists. However, despite their ubiquity and the extensive amount of research related to these common, simple geometries, unexpected complexities still remain. We show that for a range of geometries and flow conditions, these simple flows experience unexpected fluid dynamical bifurcations resembling the bubble-type vortex breakdown phenomenon. Specifically, we show with simulations and experiments that recirculation zones develop within the bends under certain conditions. As a consequence, fluid and particles can remain trapped within these structures for unexpectedly-long time scales. We also present simple techniques to mitigate this recirculation effect which can potentially have impact across industries ranging from biomedical and chemical processing to food and health sciences.

This presentation describes nuclear fuel accounting activities from the perspective of nuclear fuels management and its interfaces. Generally, Nuclear Fuels-River Bend Nuclear Group (RBNG) is involved on a day-by-day basis with nuclear fuel materials accounting in carrying out is procurement, contract administration, processing, and inventory management duties, including those associated with its special nuclear materials (SNM)-isotopics accountability oversight responsibilities as the Central Accountability Office for the River Bend Station. As much as possible, these duties are carried out in an integrated, interdependent manner. From these primary functions devolve Nuclear Fuels interfacing activities with fuel cost and tax accounting. Noting that nuclear fuel tax accounting support is of both an esoteric and intermittent nature, Nuclear Fuels-RBNG support of developments and applications associated with nuclear fuel cost accounting is stressed in this presentation

Paramecium is a unicellular eukaryote which by coordinated beating of cilia, generates metachronal waves which causes it to execute a helical trajectory. We investigate the swimming parameters of the organism in rectangular PDMS channels and try to quantify its behavior. Surprisingly a swimming Paramecium in certain width of channels executes a bend of its flexible body (and changes its direction of swimming) by generating forces using the cilia. Considering a simple model of beam constrained between two walls, we predict the bent shapes of the organism and the forces it exerts on the walls. Finally we try to explain how bending (by sensing) can occur in channels by conducting experiments in thin film of fluid and drawing analogy to swimming behavior observed in different cases.

The device of the present invention can measure bending of a beryllium reflector formed in a reactor core of a nuclear reactor by a relatively easy operation. Namely, a sensor portion comprises a long-support that can be inserted to a fuel element-insertion hole disposed in the reactor and a plurality of distance sensors disposed in a longitudinal direction of the support. A supersonic wave sensor which is advantageous in the heat resistance, the size and the accuracy and can conduct measurement in water relatively easily is used as the distance sensors. However, other sensors, instead of the sensor described above, may also be used. The plurality of distance sensors detect the bending amount of the beryllium reflector in the longitudinal direction by such an easy operation of inserting such a sensor portion to the fuel element-insertion hole upon exchange of fuel elements. (I.S.)

The behavior of the bending modulus κ of bilayers in lamellar phases was studied by Small Angle X-ray Scattering technique for various nonionic C i E j surfactants. The bilayers are either unswollen and dispersed in water or swollen by water and dispersed in dodecane. For unswollen bilayers, the values of κ decrease with both an increase in the area per surfactant molecule and in the polar head length. They increase when the aliphatic chain length increases at constant area per surfactant molecule. Whereas for water-swollen membranes, the values of κ decrease as the content of water increases converging to the value of the single monolayer bending modulus. Such a behavior results from the decoupling of the fluctuations of the two surfactant membrane monolayers. Our results emphasize the determinant contribution of the surfactant conformation to κ

Bending-loss insensitive fiber (BIF) has proved an essential medium for constructing the current fiber to the home (FTTH) network. By contrast, the progress that has been made on holey fiber (HF) technologies provides us with novel possibilities including non-telecom applications. In this paper, we review recent progress on hole-assisted type BIF. A simple design consideration is overviewed. We then describe some of the properties of HAF including its mechanical reliability. Finally, we introduce some applications of HAF including to high power transmission. We show that HAF with a low bending loss has the potential for use in various future optical technologies as well as in the optical communication network.

This dissertation investigates the bending fatigue response of high-strength steel monostrands and multistrand stay cables to cyclic transverse deformations. Increasing bridge stock numbers and a push for longer cable-supported span lengths have led to an increased number of reported incidents...... of damage and replacement of bridge stay cables due to wind and traffic-induced fatigue. The understanding of fatigue mechanisms in most steel structures is well established. However, in the case of cables composed of steel strands, many important aspects related with bending fatigue remain to be clarified...... associated with variable loading, and different testing procedures. As most of the contemporary stay cables are comprised of a number of individual highstrength steel monostrands, the research study started with an extensive experimental work on the fatigue response of a single monostrand to cyclic flexural...

Cellular solids can deform by either the bending or stretching of the cell walls. While most cellular solids are bending-dominated, those that are stretching-dominated are much more weight-efficient for structural applications. In this study we have investigated the topological criteria that dictate the deformation mechanism of a cellular solid by analysing the rigidity (or otherwise) of pin-jointed frameworks comprising inextensional struts. We show that the minimum node connectivity for a special class of lattice structured materials to be stretching-dominated is 6 for 2D foams and 12 for 3D foams. Similarly, sandwich plates comprising of truss cores faced with planar trusses require a minimum node connectivity of 9 to undergo stretching-dominated deformation for all loading states. (author)

The migration rate of sharp meander bends exhibits large variance and indicates that some sharply curved bends tend to stabilize. These observations remain unexplained. This paper examines three hydrodynamic processes in sharp bends with fixed banks and discusses their morphological implications:

Full Text Available This article will illustrate the correlation between microstructural and microhardness changes in high-strength-low-alloy steel that occur as a result of laser-bending. Laser bending is a process of bending metal shapes using the laser beam...

A lightweight, metal bending brake ensures very accurate bends. Features of the brake that adapt it for making complex reverse bends to close tolerances are a pronounced relief or cutaway of the underside of the bodyplate combined with modification in the leaf design and its suspension.

Analysis of a photonic crystal fibre (PRCF) with bends is presented. Using the versatile finite difference time domain method, the modal characteristics of the PCFs are found. Possibilities of employing PCFs with bends in sensing are discussed. It is found that a large evanescent field is present when the bend angle exceeds 45 o

The separated flow in two-dimensional bends is numerically simulated for a right-angled bend with different ratios of the channel widths and for a symmetric bend with different turning angles. Unlike the potential flow solutions that have several restrictive assumptions, the Euler equations are

The separated flow in two-dimensional bends is numerically simulated for a right-angled bend with different ratios of the channel widths and for a symmetric bend with different turning angles. Unlike the potential flow solutions that have several restrictive assumptions, the Euler equations are

A miniaturized disk bend test (MDBT) using transmission electron microscopy specimens for the determination of various mechanical properties is being developed at MIT. Recent progress in obtaining strengths and ductilities of highly irradiated metal alloys is reviewed. Possibilities exist for applying the MDBT approach to the determination of other mechanical properties. Progress in fatigue testing and in determination of the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature is reviewed briefly

The very particular lattice of the AA required 2 types of dipoles (bending magnets; BST, short and wide; BLG, long and narrow). The wide ones had a steel length of 2.71 m, a "good field" width of 0.564 m, and a weight of about 75 t. Here we see the copper coils being hoisted onto the lower half of a BST. See also 7811105, 8006050. For a BLG, see 8001044.

A vertical axis wind turbine is described. The wind turbine can include a top ring, a middle ring and a lower ring, wherein a plurality of vertical airfoils are disposed between the rings. For example, three vertical airfoils can be attached between the upper ring and the middle ring. In addition, three more vertical airfoils can be attached between the lower ring and the middle ring. When wind contacts the vertically arranged airfoils the rings begin to spin. By connecting the rings to a center pole which spins an alternator, electricity can be generated from wind.

Based on three-dimensional (3-D) FE limit analyses, this paper provides plastic limit, collapse and instability load solutions for pipe bends under combined pressure and in-plane bending. The plastic limit loads are determined from FE limit analyses based on elastic-perfectly plastic materials using the small geometry change option, and the FE limit analyses using the large geometry change option provide plastic collapse loads (using the twice-elastic-slope method) and instability loads. For the bending mode, both closing bending and opening bending are considered, and a wide range of parameters related to the bend geometry is considered. Based on the FE results, closed-form approximations of plastic limit and collapse load solutions for pipe bends under combined pressure and bending are proposed

Not very long ago, the 3{sup rd} generation storage ring technology was judged as mature. Most of the 3{sup rd} generation storage rings used the Double-Bend Achromat (DBA) or Triple-Bend Achromat (TBA) concepts. It was however a well-known fact that increasing the number of magnet cells in the rings is a powerful way of decreasing the electron beam emittance and thus the source brilliance, but at the penalty of increasing the size and cost of the rings. Preserving the Dynamic Aperture (DA) in the rings became also an issue when increasing the number of magnet cells. The Multi-Bend Achromat (MBA) concept, including a miniaturization of the ring elements, has now drastically changed the picture. The MBA rings, now in construction or being planned, offer orders of magnitudes higher brilliance than rings of conventional designs. Several light sources around the world are now implementing or planning to implement this MBA concept. This article touches on the science drivers for higher brilliance. We will then describe the MBA concept with its advantages as well as its challenges. A short survey of the MBA activity around the world will also be presented. The author apologies for focusing on the MAX IV project regarding technical solutions. This is motivated by that MAX IV is the facility he knows best and it might be regarded as a fore-runner for the MBA concept.

Full Text Available Magnetic yarns are composite yarns, i.e. they combine elements of various natures and properties, with proven potential for electromagnetic interference (EMI shielding. In this paper, different mixtures of hard and soft magnetic powder were chosen to cover materials made of cotton yarn. The physical properties and bending behavior of the produced composite yarns were investigated in order to evaluate the yarns for further textile processing.The cotton yarn used as base material was covered with hard (barium hexaferrite BaFe12O19 and soft (Black Toner magnetic particles. An in-house developed laboratory equipment has been used to cover the twist cotton yarns with seven mixtures having different amounts of magnetic powder (30% – 50%. The bending behavior of the coated yarns was evaluated based on the average width of cracks which appeared on the yarn surface after repeated flexural tests. The obtained results revealed that usage of a polyurethane adhesive in the coating solution prevents crack formation on the surface of hard magnetic yarns after flexural tests. At the same time, the higher the mass percentage of hard magnetic powder in the mixture, the higher was the cracks’ width. The soft magnetic yarns are more flexible and a smaller crack width is observed on their surface. Both the coating solution composition and the powder diameter are expected to influence the bending behavior of coated yarns.

Not very long ago, the 3"r"d generation storage ring technology was judged as mature. Most of the 3"r"d generation storage rings used the Double-Bend Achromat (DBA) or Triple-Bend Achromat (TBA) concepts. It was however a well-known fact that increasing the number of magnet cells in the rings is a powerful way of decreasing the electron beam emittance and thus the source brilliance, but at the penalty of increasing the size and cost of the rings. Preserving the Dynamic Aperture (DA) in the rings became also an issue when increasing the number of magnet cells. The Multi-Bend Achromat (MBA) concept, including a miniaturization of the ring elements, has now drastically changed the picture. The MBA rings, now in construction or being planned, offer orders of magnitudes higher brilliance than rings of conventional designs. Several light sources around the world are now implementing or planning to implement this MBA concept. This article touches on the science drivers for higher brilliance. We will then describe the MBA concept with its advantages as well as its challenges. A short survey of the MBA activity around the world will also be presented. The author apologies for focusing on the MAX IV project regarding technical solutions. This is motivated by that MAX IV is the facility he knows best and it might be regarded as a fore-runner for the MBA concept.

Talman [Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 1429 (1986)] has proposed a novel relativistic effect that occurs when a charged particle beam is bent in the magnetic field from an external dipole. The consequence of this effect is that the space-charge forces from the particles do not exhibit the usual inverse-square energy dependence and some part of them are, in fact, independent of energy. This led to speculation that this effect could introduce significant emittance growth for a bending electron beam. Subsequently, it was shown that this effect's influence on the beam's transverse motion is canceled for a dc beam by a potential depression within the beam (to first order in the beam radius divided by the bend radius). In this paper, we extend the analysis to include short bunch lengths (as compared to the beam pipe dimensions) and find that there is no longer the cancellation for forces both transverse to and in the direction of motion. We provide an estimate for the emittance growth as a function of bend angle, beam radius, and current, and for magnetic compression of an electron bunch

We have designed, simulated and fabricated a photonic crystal waveguide Z-bend, which displays a total bend loss of ~1dB per bend in a wavelength range of more than 200nm. The fabricated component performs in excellent agreement with 3D finite-difference time-domain calculations....

Designed to overcome the limitations in case of extreme bending conditions, Bend- and Ultra-Bend-Insensitive Fibers (BIFs and UBIFs) appear as ideal solutions for use in FTTH networks and in components, pigtails or patch-cords for ever demanding applications such as military or sensing. Recently, however, questions have been raised concerning the Multi-Path-Interference (MPI) levels in these fibers. Indeed, they are potentially subject to interferences between the fundamental mode and the higher-order mode that is also bend resistant. This MPI is generated because of discrete discontinuities such as staples, bends and splices/connections that occur on distance scales that become comparable to the laser coherent length. In this paper, we will demonstrate the high MPI tolerance of all-solid single-trench-assisted BIFs and UBIFs. We will present the first comprehensive study combining theoretical and experimental points of view to quantify the impact of fusion splices on coherent MPI. To be complete, results for mechanical splices will also be reported. Finally, we will show how the single-trench- assisted concept combined with the versatile PCVD process allows to tightly control the distributions of fibers characteristics. Such controls are needed to massively produce BIFs and to meet the more stringent specifications of the UBIFs.

This work presents the preliminary results of our efforts that focused on the effect of the flock coating on the bending rigidity of woven fabrics. For this objective, a laboratory scale flocking unit is designed and flocked samples of controlled flock density are produced. Bending rigidity of the samples with different flock densities are measured on both flocked and unflocked sides. It is shown that the bending rigidity depends on both flock density and whether the side to be measured is flocked or not. Adhesive layer thickness on the bending rigidity is shown to be dramatic. And at higher basis weights, flock density gets less effective on bending rigidity.

This paper presents the results of the experimental study on the bending fatigue resistance of high-strength steel monostrand cables. From the conducted fatigue tests in the high-stress, low-cycle region, a preliminary bending fatigue spectrum is derived for the estimation of monostrand cable...... service life expectancy. The presented preliminary bending fatigue spectrum of high-strength monostrands is currently unavailable in the published literature. The presented results provide relevant information on the bending mechanism and fatigue characteristics of monostrand steel cables in tension...... and flexure and show that localized cable bending has a pronounced influence on the fatigue resistance of cables under dynamic excitations....

Ion beams can be used to bend or re-align nanowires permanently, after they have been grown. We have irradiated ZnO nanowires with ions of different species and energy, achieving bending and alignment in various directions. We study the bending of single nanowires as well as the simultaneous alignment of large ensembles of ZnO nanowires in detail. Computer simulations show that the bending is initiated by ion beam induced damage. Dislocations are identified to relax stresses and make the bending and alignment permanent and resistant against annealing procedures.

We design tunable waveguide bends filled with graphene-based anisotropic metamaterials to achieve a nearly perfect bending effect. The anisotropic properties of the metamaterials can be described by the effective medium theory. The nearly perfect bending effect is demonstrated by finite element simulations of various structures with different bending curvatures and shapes. This effect is attributed to zero effective permittivity along the direction of propagation and matched effective impedance at the interfaces between the bending part and the dielectric waveguides. We envisage that the design will be applicable in the far-infrared and terahertz frequency ranges owing to the tunable dielectric responses of graphene.

We design tunable waveguide bends filled with graphene-based anisotropic metamaterials to achieve a nearly perfect bending effect. The anisotropic properties of the metamaterials can be described by the effective medium theory. The nearly perfect bending effect is demonstrated by finite element simulations of various structures with different bending curvatures and shapes. This effect is attributed to zero effective permittivity along the direction of propagation and matched effective impedance at the interfaces between the bending part and the dielectric waveguides. We envisage that the design will be applicable in the far-infrared and terahertz frequency ranges owing to the tunable dielectric responses of graphene.

1.1 These test methods cover bend testing for ductility of materials. Included in the procedures are four conditions of constraint on the bent portion of the specimen; a guided-bend test using a mandrel or plunger of defined dimensions to force the mid-length of the specimen between two supports separated by a defined space; a semi-guided bend test in which the specimen is bent, while in contact with a mandrel, through a specified angle or to a specified inside radius (r) of curvature, measured while under the bending force; a free-bend test in which the ends of the specimen are brought toward each other, but in which no transverse force is applied to the bend itself and there is no contact of the concave inside surface of the bend with other material; a bend and flatten test, in which a transverse force is applied to the bend such that the legs make contact with each other over the length of the specimen. 1.2 After bending, the convex surface of the bend is examined for evidence of a crack or surface irregu...

The beam-transport line from the AGS to CBA requires 68 large bending magnets, consisting of pure dipoles and two types of combined function gradient magnets. All three types were designed with magnetic-field calculation program POISSON, using the same exterior dimensions and coil package. The design goal of +-1% momentum acceptance for the transport line required a wide horizontal aperture, with a much-smaller vertical aperture for economy. Two prototypes of one gradient magnet were built, and a facility constructed to measure them and the later production magnets. Measurements were done using both a long coil and a point coil (Rawson-Lush gaussmeter). Preliminary results show ..delta..B/B < 0.2 x 10/sup -3/, ..delta..G/G < 0.3 x 10/sup -2/, and ..delta..B/sub 2//B < 0.3 x 10/sup -4/ cm/sup -2/ over the beam aperture. Due to end effects, the actual gradient differs from the design gradient by 1%, which has been compensated for in the beam-line design.

The three-span steel-arch-steel-girder Jiaxian Bridge was newly constructed in 2010 to replace the former one that has been destroyed by Typhoon Sinlaku (2008, Taiwan). It was designed and built to continue the domestic service requirement, as well as to improve the tourism business of the Kaohsiung city government, Taiwan. This study aimed at establishing the baseline model of Jiaxian Bridge for hazardous scenario simulation such as typhoons, floods and earthquakes. Necessities of these precaution works were attributed to the inherent vulnerability of the sites: near fault and river cross. The uncalibrated baseline bridge model was built with structural finite element in accordance with the blueprints. Ambient vibration measurements were performed repeatedly to acquire the elastic dynamic characteristics of the bridge structure. Two frequency domain system identification algorithms were employed to extract the measured operational modal parameters. Modal shapes, frequencies, and modal assurance criteria (MAC) were configured as the fitting targets so as to calibrate/update the structural parameters of the baseline model. It has been recognized that different types of structural parameters contribute distinguishably to the fitting targets, as this study has similarly explored. For steel-arch-steel-girder bridges in particular this case, joint rigidity of the steel components was found to be dominant while material properties and section geometries relatively minor. The updated model was capable of providing more rational elastic responses of the bridge superstructure under normal service conditions as well as hazardous scenarios, and can be used for manage the health conditions of the bridge structure.

This study focuses on the opening mode of induction bends; this mode represents the deformation outside a bend. Bending experiments on induction bends are shown and the manner of failure of these bends was investigated. Ruptures occur at the intrados of the bends, which undergo tensile stress, and accompany the local reduction of wall thickness, i.e., necking that indicates strain localization. By implementing finite element analysis (FEA), it was shown that the rupture is dominated not by the fracture criterion of material but by the initiation of strain localization that is a deformation characteristic of the material. These ruptures are due to the rapid increase of local strain after the initiation of strain localization and suddenly reach the fracture criterion. For the evaluation of the deformability of the bends, a method based on FEA that can predict the displacement at the rupture is proposed. We show that the yield surface shape and the true stress–strain relationship after uniform elongation have to be defined on the basis of the actual properties of the bend material. The von Mises yield criterion, which is commonly used in cases of elastic–plastic FEA, could not predict the rupture and overestimated the deformability. In contrast, a yield surface obtained by performing tensile tests on a biaxial specimen could predict the rupture. The prediction of the rupture was accomplished by an inverse calibration method that determined the true stress-strain relationship after uniform elongation. As an alternative to the inverse calibration, a simple extrapolation method of the true stress-strain relationship after uniform elongation which can predict the rupture is proposed. - Highlights: • A method based on FEA that can predict the displacement at the rupture is proposed. • The yield surface shape and the true stress–strain have to be defined precisely. • The von Mises yield criterion overestimated the deformability. • The ruptures are due to the

In the present paper, approximate plastic limit load solutions for pipe bends under combined internal pressure and bending are obtained from detailed three-dimensional (3-D) FE limit analyses based on elastic-perfectly plastic materials with the small geometry change option. The present FE results show that existing limit load solutions for pipe bends are lower bounds but can be very different from the present FE results in some cases, particularly for bending. Accordingly closed-form approximations are proposed for pipe bends under combined pressure and in-plane bending based on the present FE results. The proposed limit load solutions would be a basis of defective pipe bends and be useful to estimate non-linear fracture mechanics parameters based on the reference stress approach

We consider the scattering of lightlike matter in the presence of a heavy scalar object (such as the Sun or a Schwarzschild black hole). By treating general relativity as an effective field theory we directly compute the nonanalytic components of the one-loop gravitational amplitude for the scattering of massless scalars or photons from an external massive scalar field. These results allow a semiclassical computation of the bending angle for light rays grazing the Sun, including long-range ℏ contributions. We discuss implications of this computation, in particular, the violation of some classical formulations of the equivalence principle.

Mechanical stresses, displacements, and the effects of displacements upon aberrations of the magnetic field in the aperture have been calculated for a class of superconducting bending-magnet configurations. The analytical model employed for the coil is one in which elements are free to slide without restraint upon each other, and upon the surrounding structure. Coil configurations considered range from an idealized one in which the current density varies as cosine theta to more realistic ones consisting of regions of uniform current density. With few exceptions, the results for the more realistic coils closely match those of the cos theta coil

Full Text Available In this paper, we analyze the capabilities of a novel class of continuous-backbone ("continuum" robots. These robots are inspired by biological "trunks, and tentacles". However, the capabilities of established continuum robot designs, which feature controlled bending but not extension, fall short of those of their biological counterparts. In this paper, we argue that the addition of controlled extension provides dual and complementary functionality, and correspondingly enhanced performance, in continuum robots. We present an interval-based analysis to show how the inclusion of controllable extension significantly enhances the workspace and capabilities of continuum robots.

The calculation of the minimum emittance of three-bend achromats (TBAs) made by Mathematical software can ignore the actual magnets lattice in the matching condition of dispersion function in phase space. The minimum scaling factors of two kinds of widely used TBA lattices are obtained. Then the relationship between the lengths and the radii of the three dipoles in TBA is obtained and so is the minimum scaling factor, when the TBA lattice achieves its minimum emittance. The procedure of analysis and the results can be widely used in achromats lattices, because the calculation is not restricted by the actual lattice. (authors)

Full Text Available Since the evolution and the involvement of Nickel Titanium wires in the field of Orthodontics. The treatment plan has evolved with the use of low force Nickel Titanium wires. Because of their high springback, low stiffness, they are the key initial wires in leveling and alignment but have poor formability. Since poor formability limits its ability to create variable arch forms thus; limits the form of treatment. We have devised a method to bend the Nickel Titanium wires to help in our inventory but also customized the wire according to the treatment.

Dynamic modulation of lipid membrane curvature can be achieved by a number of peripheral protein binding mechanisms such as hy-drophobic insertion of amphipathic helices and membrane scaffolding. Recently, an alternative mechanism was proposed in which crowding of peripherally bound proteins induces membrane curvature through steric pressure generated by lateral collisions. This effect was enhanced using intrinsically disordered proteins that possess high hydrodynamic radii, prompting us to explore whether membrane bending can be triggered by the folding-unfolding transition of surface-bound proteins. We utilized histidine-tagged human serum albumin bound to Ni-NTA-DGS containing liposomes as our model system to test this hypothesis. We found that reduction of the disulfide bonds in the protein resulted in unfolding of HSA, which subsequently led to membrane tubule formation. The frequency of tubule formation was found to be significantly higher when the proteins were unfolded while being localized to a phase-separated domain as opposed to randomly distributed in fluid phase liposomes, indicating that the steric pressure generated from protein unfolding is directly responsible for membrane deformation. Our results are critical for the design of peripheral membrane protein-immobilization strategies and open new avenues for exploring mechanisms of membrane bending driven by conformational changes of peripheral membrane proteins.

The mounting is described of the drive assembly of a vertical pump for nuclear power plants in areas with seismic risk. The assembly is attached to the building floor using flexible and damping elements. The design allows producing seismically resistant pumps without major design changes in the existing types of vertical pumps. (E.S.). 1 fig

Full Text Available The present study has investigated the finite element method (FEM techniques of composite beam subjected to combined axial tension and negative bending. The negative bending regions of composite beams are influenced by worsen failures due to various levels of axial tensile loads on steel section especially in the regions near internal supports. Three dimensional solid FEM model was developed to accurately predict the unfavourable phenomenon of cracking of concrete and compression of steel in the negative bending regions of composite beam due to axial tensile loads. The prediction of quasi-static solution was extensively analysed with various deformation speeds and energy stabilities. The FEM model was then validated with existing experimental data. Reasonable agreements were observed between the results of FEM model and experimental analysis in the combination of vertical-axial forces and failure modes on ultimate limit state behaviour. The local failure modes known as shear studs failure, excess yielding on steel beam and crushing on concrete were completely verified by extensive similarity between the numerical and experimental results. Finally, a proper way of modelling techniques for large FEM models by considering uncertainties of material behaviour due to biaxial loadings and complex contact interactions is discussed. Further, the model is suggested for the limit state prediction of composite beam with calibrating necessary degree of the combined axial loads.

This article is devoted to an improvement of the technological process's analysis with the information security requirements implementation. The aim of this research is the competition increase analysis in aircraft industry enterprises due to the information technology implementation by the example of the tube bending technological process. The article analyzes tube bending kinds and current technique. In addition, a potential risks analysis in a tube bending technological process is carried out in terms of information security.

The high-frequency induction bending process, using API pipes coated with Inconel 625 reconciled to a mechanical transformation for a higher degree of resistance, was developed through a careful specification and control of the manufacturing parameters and inherent heat treatments. The effects of this technology were investigated by a qualification process consisting of a sequence of tests and acceptance criteria typically required by the offshore industry, and through the obtained results was proved the effectiveness of this entire manufacturing process, without causing interference in the properties and the quality of the inconel cladding, adding a gain of resistance to the base material, guaranteed by the requirements of the API 5L Standard. (author)

The ELENA bending magnet prototype shall prove that the proposed design meets the requirements set by the ELENA beam dynamics. The following points will be discussed in detail: (i) production process of a magnetic yoke diluted with stainless steel plates, (ii) the stability and repeatability of the field homogeneity of such a yoke over the full working range, (iii) choice of soft magnetic steel, (iv) hysteresis effects, (v) mechanical deformations, (vi) thermal insulation to intercept heat load from baking for activation of NEG coating in the vacuum chamber, (vii) end shim design. In order to verify these points the following measurements will be performed: (i) Hall probe scanning, (ii) integrated field homogeneity measurement (DC), (iii) integrated field homogeneity measurement (AC).

A new computer program package has been developed that determines the troposkein shape for a Darrieus Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Blade with any geometrical configuration or rotation rate. This package allows users to interact and develop a buildable blade whose shape closely approximates the troposkein. Use of this package can significantly reduce flatwise mean bending stresses in the blade and increase fatigue life.

The non-linearities in wave- and slamming-induced rigid-body motions and structural responses of ships such as heave, pitch and verticalbending moments are consistently investigated based on a rational time-domain strip method. A hydrodynamic model for predicting sectional green water force is a...

The accurate determination of tropical cyclone (TC) cloud-top height and its vertical thermal structure using the GPS radio occultation (RO) technique is demonstrated in this study. Cloud-top heights are determined by using the bending angle anomaly and the temperature anomaly profiles during...

To ensure comfort and healthy conditions in interior spaces the thermal, acoustics and daylight factors of the environment have to be considered in the building design. Due to effective energy performance in buildings the new technology and applications also in daylight engineering are sought such as tubular light guides. These allow the transport of natural light into the building core reducing energy consumption. A lot of installations with various geometrical and optical properties can be applied in real buildings. The simplest set of tubular light guide consists of a transparent cupola, direct tube with high reflected inner surface and a ceiling cover or diffuser redistributing light into the interior. Such vertical tubular guide is often used on flat roofs. When the roof construction is inclined a bend in the light guide system has to be installed. In this case the cupola is set on the sloped roof which collects sunlight and skylight from the seen part of the sky hemisphere as well as that reflected from the ground and opposite facades. In comparison with the vertical tube some additional light losses and distortions of the propagated light have to be expected in bended tubular light guides. Recently the theoretical model of light propagation was already published and its applications are presented in this study solving illuminance distributions on the ceiling cover interface and further illuminance distribution on the working plane in the interior. (author)

An analysis is presented of the results of tests made by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics on an investigation of the strength of thin-walled circular and elliptic cylinders in pure bending and in combined torsion and bending. In each of the loading conditions, the bending moments were applied in the plane of the major axis of the ellipse.

The experimental program deals with the formation of incipient cracks and subsequent crack growth of axially oriented cracks at a pipe bend with a nominal width of DN 425. The pipe bend consists of the ferritic material 20MnMoNi55. The numerical experiments by means of 3 D-FE analyses concentrate on determining the influence of the asymmetric crack depths at the two bend halves, and of the multiple crack fields, on the effective crack strain. (DG) [de

The accuracy of theoretical analyses for in-plane bending of smooth pipebends with end constraints is discussed and investigated with a view to explaining and reducing the differences between the major works. An earlier theory of the authors is improved to give more accurate answers for bends with rigid flanges. Flanged bends are then examined in some detail, quantifying for the first time the important influence of the flange rigidity on the bend flexibility and stresses. A summary of some finite element analyses is presented from which it is clear that further work is desirable. (orig.)

The present study was designed to investigate for vertical jumping the relationships between muscle actions, movement pattern and jumping achievement. Ten skilled jumpers performed jumps with preparatory countermovement. Ground reaction forces and cinematographic data were recorded. In addition,

The limit analysis of the in-plane bending of curved tubes had received attention previously, but the effect of defects in the tube has not been considered. A lower bound has been established which, with no defects present, is in agreement with previous theoretical work. The method of linear programming allows cracks to be introduced into analysis, and results have been obtained for various geometries of defect. The results show that the presence of cracks in the pipe bend can have a marked effect on the theoretical limit load: a part-through crack penetrating only half the wall thickness will reduce the limit moment by up to 10%. The worst possible case of a through-crack may reduce the limit load by 60%. (author)

The limit analysis of the in-plane bending of curved tubes had received attention previously, but the effect of defects in the tube has not been considered. A lower bound is established, which, with no defects present, is in agreement with previous theoretical work. The method of linear programming allows cracks to be introduced into the analysis. and results have been obtained for various geometries of defect. The results show that the presence of cracks in the pipe bend can have a marked effect on the theoretical limit load: a part-through crack penetrating only half the wall thickness will reduce the limit moment by up to 10%. The worst possible case of a through-crack may reduce the limit load by 60% (author)

A new hybrid vertical cavity laser structure for silicon photonics is suggested and numerically investigated. It incorporates a silicon subwavelength grating as a mirror and a lateral output coupler to a silicon ridge waveguide.......A new hybrid vertical cavity laser structure for silicon photonics is suggested and numerically investigated. It incorporates a silicon subwavelength grating as a mirror and a lateral output coupler to a silicon ridge waveguide....

Restraining and releasing bends occurring in all crustal environments are common but enigmatic features of strike-slip fault systems. They can be reported in all scales of observation. Regional-scale restraining bends are sites of mountain building, transpressional deformation and basement exhumation. Releasing bends are sites of subsidence, transtensional deformation and pull-apart basins. The Dom Feliciano Belt of Southern Uruguay has two main structures observed from the outer space: (i) the Sierra Ballena Shear Zone and (ii) the Sierra de Cabral flexure located to the SW of the former. Although a transpressional regime is commonly accepted for the Dom Feliciano Belt, the available tectonic models do not provide satisfactory explanations for its building mechanism. A restraining bend is proposed at the SW termination of Sierra Ballena strike-slip ductile shear zone. In a key-area (Alvariza Range) the relationship between the Zanja del Tigre volcanic-detritic and the calcareous succession shows three en-échelon upright bends of the same quartzite hanging-wall between two sub-vertical strike-slip faults, suggesting the existence of a shortened strike-slip duplex operating in viscous-elastic rheology. The deformation partitioning includes strike-slip and dip-slip simple-shear components as well as one contractional pure-shear component. Because restraining bends were scarcely described in Neoproterozoic low-grade regional exhumation conditions, this structural framework would be a natural laboratory to study fault kinematics, fault dynamics, their associated deformation and the tectonic and erosion constraints related to the exhumation of many crystalline terrains

Full Text Available Solid particle erosion is a mechanical process that removes material by the impact of solid particles entrained in the flow. Erosion is a leading cause of failure of oil and gas pipelines and fittings in fluid handling industries. Different approaches have been used to control or minimize damage caused by erosion in particulated gas-solid or liquid-solid flows. S-bend geometry is widely used in different fluid handling equipment that may be susceptible to erosion damage. The results of a computational fluid dynamic (CFD simulation of diluted gas-solid and liquid-solid flows in an S-bend are presented in this paper. In addition to particle impact velocity, the bend radius may have significant influence on the magnitude and the location of erosion. CFD analysis was performed at three different air velocities (15.24 m/s–45.72 m/s and three different water velocities (0.1 m/s–10 m/s with entrained solid particles. The particle sizes used in the analysis range between 50 and 300 microns. Maximum erosion was observed in water with 10 m/s, 250-micron particle size, and a ratio of 3.5. The location of maximum erosion was observed in water with 10 m/s, 300-micron particle size, and a ratio of 3.5. Comparison of CFD results with available literature data showed reasonable and good agreement.

The variability pattern is highly relevant in the analysis of occupational physical exposures. It is hypothesized that gender differences exist in the variability pattern of forward bending between work and leisure.......The variability pattern is highly relevant in the analysis of occupational physical exposures. It is hypothesized that gender differences exist in the variability pattern of forward bending between work and leisure....

We modified the HEDL disk-bend test machine and are using it to qualitatively screen alloys that are susceptible to embrittlement caused by irradiation. Tests designed to understand the disk-bend test in relation to a uniaxial test are discussed. Selected results of tests of neutron-irradiated material are also presented

A stochastic model of hierarchical series system type for the bending strength of spruce beams isdefined from the anticipation that the bending failure takes place at a cross-section with a defect cluster formed by knots or grain irregularities. The parameters of the model are estimated from meas...

We investigate combined effects of spin-orbit coupling and magnetic field in carbon nanotubes containing one or more bends along their length. We show how bends can be used to provide electrical control of confined spins, while spins confined in straight segments remain insensitive to electric...

Using a scaling approach we consider a 2D comb copolymer brush under bending deformations. We show that the rectilinear brush is locally stable and can be characterized by a persistence length lambda increasing with the molecular weight of grafting side chains as lambda similar to M-3. A bending

We present a high-sensitivity and more flexible bend measurement method, which is based on the coupling of core mode to the cladding modes at the bending region in concatenation with optical fiber grating serving as band reflector. The characteristics of a bend sensing arm composed of bending region and optical fiber grating is examined for different configurations including single fiber Bragg grating (FBG), chirped FBG (CFBG), and double FBGs. The bend loss curves for coated, stripped, and etched sections of fiber in the bending region with FBG, CFBG, and double FBG are obtained experimentally. The effect of separation between bending region and optical fiber grating on loss is measured. The loss responses for single FBG and CFBG configurations are compared to discover the effectiveness for practical applications. It is demonstrated that the sensitivity of the double FBG scheme is twice that of the single FBG and CFBG configurations, and hence acts as sensitivity multiplier. The bend loss response for different fiber diameters obtained through etching in 40% hydrofluoric acid, is measured in double FBG scheme that resulted in a significant increase in the sensitivity, and reduction of dead-zone.

Full Text Available A novel method is described to calculate the forming load in V-bending by a press brake. The data of forming load are collected by FEM analysis. With an increase of the punch stroke in V-bending, the forming load increases gradually after the elastic limit, and then decreases after showing the maximum value. The proposal formulation to trace the variations in the forming load curve includes the calculating method of the load of the elastic limit, the maximum load in air bending and the variations of the forming load before/after the bending stroke of the maximum load. The calculated precision is confirmed by comparing with the measured load-stroke curves in V-bending with a press brake.

In CANDU reactors, feeder bends close to the connection at the fuel channel may be subjected to the highest Flow Accelerated Corrosion (FAC) and stresses. Feeder pipe stress analysis is crucial in the life extension of aging CANDU plants. Typical feeder pipes are interconnected by upper link plates and spacers. It is well known that the stresses at the bends are sensitive to the local bend thicknesses. It is also known from the authors' study (Li and et al, 2005) that feeder inter linkage effect is significant and cannot be ignored. The field measurement of feeder bend thickness is difficult and may be subjected to uncertainty in accuracy. Hence, it is desirable to know how the stress on a subject feeder could be affected by the bend thickness variation of the neighboring feeders. This effect cannot be evaluated by the traditional 'single' feeder model approach. In this paper, the 'row' and 'combined' models developed in the previous study (Li and et al, 2005), which include the feeder interactions, are used to investigate the sensitivity of bend thickness. A series of random thickness bounded by maximum and minimum measured values were applied to feeders in the model. The results show that an individual feeder is not sensitive to the bend thickness variation of the remaining feeders in the model, but depends primarily on its own bend thickness. The highest stress at a feeder always occurs when the feeder has the smallest possible bend thickness. A minimum acceptable bend thickness for individual feeders can be computed by an iterative computing process. The dependency of field thickness measurement and the amount of required analysis work can be greatly reduced. (authors)

A novel vertical translational microactuator based on thin-film piezoelectric actuation is presented, using a set of four compound bend-up/bend-down unimorphs to produce translational motion of a moving platform or stage. The actuation material is a chemical-solution deposited lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) thin film. Prototype designs have shown as much as 120 μ m of static displacement, with 80-90 μ m displacements being typical, using four 920 μ m long by 70 μ m legs. Analytical models are presented that accurately describe nonlinear behavior in both static and dynamic operation of prototype stages when the dependence of piezoelectric coefficients on voltage is known. Resonance of the system is observed at a frequency of 200 Hz. The large displacement and high bandwidth of the actuators at low-voltage and low-power levels should make them useful to a variety of optical applications, including endoscopic microscopy.

Full Text Available Empa’s research efforts in the 1990s provided evidence that a considerable increase of the fatigue strength of welded aluminum beams can be achieved by externally bonding pultruded carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP laminates using rubber-toughened epoxies over the fatigue-weak welding zone on their tensile flange. The reinforcing effect obtained is determined by the stiffness of the unidirectional CFRP laminate which has twice the elastic modulus of aluminum. One can therefore easily follow that an unstressed CFRP laminate reinforcement of welded beams made of steel will not lead to a substantial increase in fatigue strength of the steel structure. This consideration led to the idea of prestressing an external reinforcement of the welded zone. The present investigation describes experimental studies to identify the adhesive system suitable for achieving high creep and fatigue strength of the prestressed CFRP patch. Experimental results (Wöhler-fields of shear-lap-specimens and welded steel beams reinforced with prestressed CFRP laminates are presented. The paper concludes by presenting a field application, the reinforcement of a steel pendulum by adhesively bonded prestressed CFRP laminates to the tensile flanges of the welded box girder. Inspections carried out periodically on this structure revealed neither prestress losses nor crack initiation after nine years of service.

The application of hybrid carbon fiber reinforced polymer (HCFRP) sensors was addressed to monitor the structural health of an existing prestressed concrete (PC) box girder bridge in a destructive test. The novel HCFRP sensors were fabricated with three types of carbon tows in order to realize distributed and broad-based sensing, which is characterized by long-gauge length and low cost. The HCFRP sensors were bonded on the bottom and side surfaces of the existing bridge to monitor its structural health. The gauge lengths of the sensors bonded on the bottom and side surfaces were 1.5 m and 1.0 m, respectively. The HCFRP sensors were distributed on the bridge for two purposes. One was to detect damage and monitor the structural health of the bridge, such as the initiation and propagation of new cracks, strain distribution and yielding of steel reinforcements. The other purpose was to monitor the propagation of existing cracks. The good relationship between the change in electrical resistance and load indicates that the HCFRP sensors can provide actual infrastructures with a distributed damage detection and structural health monitoring system. Corrections were made to this article on 13 May 2008. The corrected electronic version is identical to the print version.

The application of hybrid carbon fiber reinforced polymer (HCFRP) sensors was addressed to monitor the structural health of an existing prestressed concrete (PC) box girder bridge in a destructive test. The novel HCFRP sensors were fabricated with three types of carbon tows in order to realize distributed and broad-based sensing, which is characterized by long-gauge length and low cost. The HCFRP sensors were bonded on the bottom and side surfaces of the existing bridge to monitor its structural health. The gauge lengths of the sensors bonded on the bottom and side surfaces were 1.5 m and 1.0 m, respectively. The HCFRP sensors were distributed on the bridge for two purposes. One was to detect damage and monitor the structural health of the bridge, such as the initiation and propagation of new cracks, strain distribution and yielding of steel reinforcements. The other purpose was to monitor the propagation of existing cracks. The good relationship between the change in electrical resistance and load indicates that the HCFRP sensors can provide actual infrastructures with a distributed damage detection and structural health monitoring system. Corrections were made to this article on 13 May 2008. The corrected electronic version is identical to the print version

Streicker Bridge is a pedestrian bridge on the Princeton University campus. It consists of a main span and four curved continuous girders (legs). The main span and the southeast leg of the bridge are equipped with fiber optic strain and temperature sensors, allowing the bridge to also function as an on-campus laboratory for the Structural Health Monitoring research group. Parallel sensors were embedded at critical cross-sections in the deck prior to the pouring of concrete. The deck of the southeast leg experienced early age cracking within a few days of concrete pouring, which was detected by the strain sensors. Post-tensioning was then performed and it is assumed that it closed off the cracks. Evaluation of post-tensioning forces is complex due to the existence of the cracks, and this paper researches a procedure to estimate the post-tensioning forces at cracked and uncracked locations. The obtained post-tensioning forces were compared to design forces and conclusions regarding the status of post-tensioning were made. This is important as it gives information on the actual health condition and performance of the structure. It also provides information on the safety of the structure. The objective of this paper is to present a methodology for the evaluation of the post-tensioning force along the deck based on strain measurements. The monitoring system, results, data analysis method, and conclusions regarding the bridge health condition and performance are presented in this paper.

Full Text Available This article makes an attempt to analyze the principle of subsidiarity in its two main manifestations, namely vertical and horizontal, to outline the principles of relations between the state and regions within the vertical subsidiarity, and features a collaboration of the government and civil society within the horizontal subsidiarity. Scientists identify two types, or two levels of the subsidiarity principle: vertical subsidiarity and horizontal subsidiarity. First, vertical subsidiarity (or territorial concerning relations between the state and other levels of subnational government, such as regions and local authorities; second, horizontal subsidiarity (or functional concerns the relationship between state and citizen (and civil society. Vertical subsidiarity expressed in the context of the distribution of administrative responsibilities to the appropriate higher level lower levels relative to the state structure, ie giving more powers to local government. However, state intervention has subsidiary-lower action against local authorities in cases of insolvency last cope on their own, ie higher organisms intervene only if the duties are less authority is insufficient to achieve the goals. Horizontal subsidiarity is within the relationship between power and freedom, and is based on the assumption that the concern for the common good and the needs of common interest community, able to solve community members (as individuals and citizens’ associations and role of government, in accordance horizontal subsidiarity comes to attracting features subsidiarity assistance, programming, coordination and possibly control.

Studies were conducted on the large deformation response of composite beams subjected to a dynamic axial load. The beams were loaded with a moderate eccentricity to promote bending. The study was primarily experimental but some finite element results were obtained. Both the deformation and the failure of the beams were of interest. The static response of the beams was also studied to determine potential differences between the static and dynamic failure. Twelve different laminate types were tested. The beams were loaded dynamically with a gravity driven impactor traveling at 19.6 ft/sec and quasi-static tests were conducted on identical beams in a displacement controlled manner. For laminates of practical interest, the failure modes under static and dynamic loadings were identical. Failure in most of the laminate types occurred in a single event involving 40% to 50% of the plies. However, failure in laminates with 30 deg or 15 deg off-axis plies occured in several events. All laminates exhibited bimodular elastic properties. Using empirically determined flexural properties, a finite element analysis was reasonably accurate in predicting the static and dynamic deformation response.

The results of magnetic field measurements of the large bending magnet of the MAGNEX spectrometer are presented. The experimental values are used to build an Enge function by the least-squares method. The resulting field is compared to the measured one, showing too large deviation for application to ray reconstruction techniques. Similarly, the experimental values are compared with results from a three-dimensional finite elements calculation. Again the deviations between measured and calculated field are too large for a direct application of the latter to ray reconstruction, while its reliability is sufficient for analysis purposes. In particular, it has been applied to study the effect of the inaccuracies in the probe location and orientation on the precision of field reconstruction, and to establish the requirements for the field interpolation. These inaccuracies are found to be rather important, especially for the transversal components of the field, with the consequence that their effect on the reconstructed field should be minimized by special interpolation algorithms

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of impregnation with Tanalith-E on the bending strengths and modulus of elasticity in bending of some wood types. The test samples prepared from beech, oak, walnut, poplar, ash and pine wood materials - that are of common use in the forest products industry of TURKEY - according to TS 345, were treated with according to ASTM D 1413-76 substantially. Un-impregnated samples according to impregnated wood materials, the bending strengths in beech to 6.83%, 5.12% in ash, 5.93% in pine, the elasticity module values to 7.15% in oak and ash, at a rate of 6.58% in the higher were found. The highest values of bending strengths and modulus of elasticity in bending were obtained in beech and ash woods impregnated with Tanalith-E, whereas the lowest values were obtained in the poplar wood.

Full Text Available The article investigates the influence of the carbody vertical flexibility on the ride comfort of the railway vehicles. The ride comfort is evaluated via the comfort index calculated in three reference points of the carbody. The results of the numerical simulations bring attention to the importance of the carbody symmetrical verticalbending upon the dynamic response of the vehicle, mainly at high velocities. Another conclusion is that the ride comfort can be significantly affected as a function of the symmetrical bending frequency of the carbody. Similarly, there are improvement possibilities for the ride comfort when the best selection of the stiffness in the longitudinal traction system between the carbody and bogie and the vertical suspension damping is made.

Firms that operate at both levels of vertically related Cournot oligopolies will purchase some input supplies from independent rivals, even though they can produce the good at a lower cost, driving up input price for nonintegrated firms at the final good level. Foreclosure, which avoids this stra......Firms that operate at both levels of vertically related Cournot oligopolies will purchase some input supplies from independent rivals, even though they can produce the good at a lower cost, driving up input price for nonintegrated firms at the final good level. Foreclosure, which avoids...

The security of key exchange and secure channel protocols, such as TLS, has been studied intensively. However, only few works have considered what happens when the established keys are actually used—to run some protocol securely over the established “channel”. We call this a vertical protocol.......e., that the combination cannot introduce attacks that the individual protocols in isolation do not have. In this work, we prove a composability result in the symbolic model that allows for arbitrary vertical composition (including self-composition). It holds for protocols from any suite of channel and application...

In recent years, the construction of long-span bridges is on the increase. Prestressed concrete cable-stayed bridges are dynamically very efficient structures of relatively low cost that blend in well with the landscape. Maintenance is also easy. Consequently, the adoption of edge box girders for cable-stayed bridges is increasing worldwide, but problems related to the aerodynamic stability of the structure have emerged. The aerodynamic stability of edge box girders for a prestressed concrete cable-stayed bridge was investigated under uniform flow conditions by conducting several wind tunnel experiments. As a result, the section of the bridge deck was optimized to prevent torsional flutter within an angle of attack varying from -5 to +5 degrees. It is therefore possible to guarantee the aerodynamic stability of long-span prestressed concrete cable-stayed bridges. (author)

With present trends in the power industries towards higher operating temperatures and pressures, problems associated with the design and safety assessment of pipework systems have become increasingly complex. Within such systems, the importance of smooth pipe bends is well established. The work which will be presented will attempt to clarify the situation and unify the results. An analytical solution of the problem of a linear elastic smooth pipe bend with end constraints under in-plane bending will be presented. The analysis will deal with constraints in the form of flanged tangents of any length. The analysis employs the theorem of minimum total potential energy with suitable kinematically admissible displacements in the form of Fourier series. The integrations and minimisation were performed numerically, thereby permitting the removal of several of the assumptions made by previous authors. Typical results for flexibilities will be given along with comparisons with other works. The differences in some earlier theory are clarified and other more recent work using different solution techniques is substantiated. The bend behaviour is shown to be strongly influenced by the pipe bend parameter, the bend angle, the tangent pipe length and the bend/cross-sectional radius ratio. (orig./GL)

We present a method to produce in-plane polarized piezo films with a freely adjustable ratio of the strains in orthogonal in-plane directions. They can be used in piezo bending actuators with a tunable curvature profile. The strains are obtained as mean strains from a periodic polarization pattern produced by a suitable doubly interdigitated electrode structure. This mechanism is demonstrated for several examples using PZT sheets. We further discuss how this tuning and the parameters of the electrode layout affect the overall magnitude of the displacement. (paper)

Pipes with bend combinations are much used in the heat exchangers, since the curved path in the bends promotes the mixing in flow for active heat transfer. In the present paper, one of the pipes with bend combinations, namely, quasi-coiled pipes composed of many bend elements are investigated, and the relationships between the hydraulic loss and the secondary flow are studied experimentally. The configurations of the cross sections, the bent angles and the curvature ratios of the bend element...

Analytical methods for calculating fuel pin cladding bending and ovalling stresses due to pin bundle-duct mechanical interaction taking into account nonlinear creep are presented. Calculated results are in close agreement with finite element results by MARC-CDC program. The methods are used to investigate the effect of creep on the FTR fuel cladding bending and ovalling stresses. It is concluded that the cladding of 316 SS 20% CW and reference design has high creep rates in the FTR core region to keep the bending and ovalling stresses to low levels

In this paper, the localized bending fatigue behavior of pretensioned high strength steel monostrands is investigated. Furthermore, a new methodology using an optical photogrammetry system, which can quantify surface deformations on the strand is presented. The system allows measurement of the st......In this paper, the localized bending fatigue behavior of pretensioned high strength steel monostrands is investigated. Furthermore, a new methodology using an optical photogrammetry system, which can quantify surface deformations on the strand is presented. The system allows measurement...... displacement (opening/closing and sliding) of the helically wound wires. Moreover, the results are a step towards understanding the bending fatigue damage mechanisms of monostrand cables....

As mutually supported beam structures, reciprocal frames limit the number of components that are joined at each connection to two. However, this system of intermediate connections introduces undesirable bending moments in the beam elements. By utilising elastic deformation to create curved...... of parts of reciprocal bending-active components based on a selection of polyhedral dome types. To simplify the assembly of the structures and avoid the manual bending of the components on site, we introduce the concept of a double-layered, pre-bent component. Finally, this paper presents the development...

Increasing attention is being focused on reigning in escalating costs of healthcare, i.e. trying to 'bend the cost curve'. In gastroenterology (GI), inpatient hospital care represents a major component of overall costs. This study aimed to characterize the trend in cost of care for GI-related hospitalizations in recent years and to identify the most costly diagnostic groups. All hospital inpatients admitted between January 2008 and December 2009 with a primary diagnosis of one of the six most common GI-related Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) in this hospital system were identified; all DRGs contained at least 40 patients during the study period. Patient Level Costing (PLC) was used to express the total cost of hospital care for each patient; PLC comprised a weighted daily bed cost plus cost of all medical services provided (e.g., radiology, pathology tests) calculated according to an activity-based costing approach; cost of medications were excluded. All costs were discounted to 2009 values. Mean length of stay (LOS) was also calculated for each DRG. Over 2 years, 470 patients were admitted with one of the six most common GI DRGs. Mean cost of care increased from 2008 to 2009 for all six DRGs with the steepest increases seen in 'GI hemorrhage (non-complex)' (31 % increase) and 'Cirrhosis/Alcoholic hepatitis (non-complex)' (45 % increase). No differences in readmission rates were observed over time. There was a strong correlation between year-to-year change in costs and change in mean LOS, r = 0.93. The cost of GI-related inpatient care appears to be increasing in recent years with the steepest increases observed in non-complex GI hemorrhage and non-complex Cirrhosis/Alcoholic hepatitis. Efforts to control the increasing costs should focus on these diagnostic categories.

Full Text Available Train-induced vibration of steel truss bridges is one of the key issues in bridge engineering. This paper talks about the application of tuned mass damper (TMD on the vibration control of a steel truss bridge subjected to dynamic train loads. The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge (NYRB is taken as the research object and a recorded typical train load is included in this study. With dynamic finite element (FE method, the real-time dynamic responses of NYRB are analyzed based on a simplified train-bridge time-varying system. Thereinto, two cases including single train moving at one side and two trains moving oppositely are specifically investigated. According to the dynamic characteristics and dynamic responses of NYRB, the fourth verticalbending mode is selected as the control target and the parameter sensitivity analysis on vibration control efficiency with TMD is conducted. Using the first-order optimization method, the optimal parameters of TMD are then acquired with the control efficiency of TMD, the static displacement of Midspan, expenditure of TMDs, and manufacture difficulty of the damper considered. Results obtained in this study can provide references for the vibration control of steel truss bridges.

This paper outlines the growth in popularity of vertical search engines, their origins, the differences between them and well-known broad based search engines such as Google and Yahoo. We also discuss their use in business-to-business, their marketing and advertising costs, what the revenue streams are and who uses them.

The present invention provides a vertical cavity laser comprising a grating layer comprising an in-plane grating, the grating layer having a first side and having a second side opposite the first side and comprising a contiguous core grating region having a grating structure, wherein an index...

At River Bend Station, IST testing had problems. Operations could not perform the test with the required repeatability; engineering could not reliably trend test data to detect degradation; licensing was heavily burdened with regulatory concerns; and maintenance could not do preventative maintenance because of poor prediction of system health status. Using Energy`s Total Quality principles, it was determined that the causes were: lack of ownership, inadequate test equipment usage, lack of adequate procedures, and lack of program maintenance. After identifying the customers and suppliers of the IST program data, Energy management put together an upgrade team to address these concerns. These customers and suppliers made up the IST upgrade team. The team`s mission was to supply River Bend with a reliable, functional, industry correct and user friendly IST program. The IST program in place went through a verification process that identified and corrected over 400 individual program discrepancies. Over 200 components were identified for improved testing methods. An IST basis document was developed. The operations department was trained on ASME Section XI testing. All IST tests have been simplified and shortened, due to heavy involvement by operations in the procedure development process. This significantly reduced testing time, resulting in lower cost, less dose and greater system availability.

Wearable flexible electronics often require sustainable power sources that are also mechanically flexible to survive the extreme bending that accompanies their general use. In general, thinner microelectronic devices are under less strain when bent. This paper describes strategies to realize ultra-thin GaAs photovoltaics through the interlayer adhesiveless transfer-printing of vertical-type devices onto metal surfaces. The vertical-type GaAs photovoltaic devices recycle reflected photons by means of bottom electrodes. Systematic studies with four different types of solar microcells indicate that the vertical-type solar microcells, at only a quarter of the thickness of similarly designed lateral-type cells, generate a level of electric power similar to that of thicker cells. The experimental results along with the theoretical analysis conducted here show that the ultra-thin vertical-type solar microcells are durable under extreme bending and thus suitable for use in the manufacturing of wearable flexible electronics.

We calculate centrifugal force for a short bunch in vacuum moving in a circular orbit and estimate the emittance growth of the beam in a bend due to this force. copyright 1999 American Institute of Physics

In structural analysis and design, the effects of torsion are usually neglected ... bending and torsion, using these codes and experimental work; and validates the ..... [7] Kharagpur, I. Structural Analysis: Civil Engineering. Course Material (Vol.

Full Text Available This article presents a soft pneumatic bending actuator using a magnetically assisted bilayer composite composed of silicone polymer and ferromagnetic particles. Bilayer composites were fabricated by mixing ferromagnetic particles to a prepolymer state of silicone in a mold and asymmetrically distributed them by applying a strong non-uniform magnetic field to one side of the mold during the curing process. The biased magnetic field induces sedimentation of the ferromagnetic particles toward one side of the structure. The nonhomogeneous distribution of the particles induces bending of the structure when inflated, as a result of asymmetric stiffness of the composite. The bilayer composites were then characterized with a scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The bending performance and the axial expansion of the actuator were discussed for manipulation applications in soft robotics and bioengineering. The magnetically assisted manufacturing process for the soft bending actuator is a promising technique for various applications in soft robotics.

This article presents a soft pneumatic bending actuator using a magnetically assisted bilayer composite composed of silicone polymer and ferromagnetic particles. Bilayer composites were fabricated by mixing ferromagnetic particles to a prepolymer state of silicone in a mold and asymmetrically distributed them by applying a strong non-uniform magnetic field to one side of the mold during the curing process. The biased magnetic field induces sedimentation of the ferromagnetic particles toward one side of the structure. The nonhomogeneous distribution of the particles induces bending of the structure when inflated, as a result of asymmetric stiffness of the composite. The bilayer composites were then characterized with a scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The bending performance and the axial expansion of the actuator were discussed for manipulation applications in soft robotics and bioengineering. The magnetically assisted manufacturing process for the soft bending actuator is a promising technique for various applications in soft robotics.

Active bending introduces a new level of integration into the design of architectural structures, and opens up new complexities for the architectural design process. In particular, the introduction of material variation reconfigures the design space. Through the precise specification...

Full Text Available The paper presents a comparison of the fatigue life curves based on test of 15Mo3 steel under cyclic, pendulum bending and tension-compression. These studies were analyzed in terms of a large and small number of cycles where strain amplitude is dependent on the fatigue life. It has been shown that commonly used Manson-Coffin-Basquin model cannot be used for tests under cyclic bending due to the impossibility of separating elastic and plastic strains. For this purpose, some well-known models of Langer and Kandil and one new model of authors, where strain amplitude is dependent on the number of cycles, were proposed. Comparing the results of bending with tension-compression it was shown that for smaller strain amplitudes the fatigue life for both test methods were similar, for higher strain amplitudes fatigue life for bending tests was greater than for tension-compression.

Theory and Wind Tunnel Balance Design. S P Govinda ... The study of torsion and bending has always been a favourite ... Since it was difficult to work quietlyin Petersburg, .... should be stiff and strong to endure shocks and ensure long life.

OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, ENUGU STATE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, ... In this work, the Kantorovich method is applied to solve the bending problem of thin ... Lagrange differential equation is determined for this functional.

Full Text Available Turbulent flows through a circular 180° curved bend with a curvature ratio of 3.375, defined as the the bend mean radius to pipe diameter is investigated numerically for a Reynolds number of 4.45×104. The computation is performed for a U-Bend with full long pipes at the entrance and at the exit. The commercial ANSYS FLUENT is used to solve the steady Reynolds–Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS equations. The performances of standard k-ε and the second moment closure RSM models are evaluated by comparing their numerical results against experimental data and testing their capabilities to capture the formation and extend this turbulence driven vortex. It is found that the secondary flows occur in the cross-stream half-plane of such configurations and primarily induced by high anisotropy of the cross-stream turbulent normal stresses near the outer bend.

Turbulent flows through a circular 180° curved bend with a curvature ratio of 3.375, defined as the the bend mean radius to pipe diameter is investigated numerically for a Reynolds number of 4.45×104. The computation is performed for a U-Bend with full long pipes at the entrance and at the exit. The commercial ANSYS FLUENT is used to solve the steady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. The performances of standard k-ɛ and the second moment closure RSM models are evaluated by comparing their numerical results against experimental data and testing their capabilities to capture the formation and extend this turbulence driven vortex. It is found that the secondary flows occur in the cross-stream half-plane of such configurations and primarily induced by high anisotropy of the cross-stream turbulent normal stresses near the outer bend.

Introduction of new machines and new technologies of polyethylene pipeline installation is usually based on the polyethylene pipe flexibility. It is necessary that existing bending stresses do not lead to an irreversible polyethylene pipe deformation and to violation of its strength characteristics. Derivation of the mathematical model which allows calculating analytically the bending stress level of polyethylene pipes with consideration of nonlinear characteristics is presented below. All analytical calculations made with the mathematical model are experimentally proved and confirmed.

The plat-bending machine has been fabricated. The type is manual. That machine was made by plate, cylinder and U plat material. The machine has dimensions 110 mm in height, 650 mm in width, and 1200 mm in height. The capability of this machine is bending the plat with 2 mm in thickness and 1000 mm in width. This machine has the advantage to operate without electrical supply and easy to operate. (author)

A theory of bending waves is surveyed which provides an explanation for the required amplification of the warp in the Milky Way. It also provides for self-generated warps in isolated external galaxies. The shape of observed warps and partly their existence in isolated galaxies are indicative of substantial spheroidal components. The theory also provides a plausible explanation for the bending of the inner disk (<2 kpc) of the Milky Way

This paper concerns itself with genralized NRC regulatory policy regarding SGT failures and staff reports and opinions which may tend to influence the developing policy specific to U-bend failures. The most significant analysis at hand in predicting NRC policy on SGT U-bend failures is Marsh's Evaluation of Steam Generator Tube Rupture Events. Marsh sets out to describe and analyze the five steam generator tube ruptures that are known to NRC. All have occurred in the period 1975 to 1980

Bending of nanopipette tips during cell penetration is a major cause of cell injection failure. However, the flexural rigidity of nanopipettes is little known due to their irregular structure. In this paper, we report a quantitative method to estimate the flexural rigidity of a nanopipette by investigating its bending spring rate. First nanopipettes with a tip size of 300 nm are fabricated from various glass tubes by laser pulling followed by focused ion beam (FIB) milling. Then the bending spring rate of the nanopipettes is investigated inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Finally, a yeast cell penetration test is performed on these nanopipettes, which have different bending spring rates. The results show that nanopipettes with a higher bending spring rate have better cell penetration capability, which confirms that the bending spring rate may well reflect the flexural rigidity of a nanopipette. This method provides a quantitative parameter for characterizing the mechanical property of a nanopipette that can be potentially taken as a standard specification in the future. This general method can also be used to estimate other one-dimensional structures for cell injection, which will greatly benefit basic cell biology research and clinical applications.

Bending of nanopipette tips during cell penetration is a major cause of cell injection failure. However, the flexural rigidity of nanopipettes is little known due to their irregular structure. In this paper, we report a quantitative method to estimate the flexural rigidity of a nanopipette by investigating its bending spring rate. First nanopipettes with a tip size of 300 nm are fabricated from various glass tubes by laser pulling followed by focused ion beam (FIB) milling. Then the bending spring rate of the nanopipettes is investigated inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Finally, a yeast cell penetration test is performed on these nanopipettes, which have different bending spring rates. The results show that nanopipettes with a higher bending spring rate have better cell penetration capability, which confirms that the bending spring rate may well reflect the flexural rigidity of a nanopipette. This method provides a quantitative parameter for characterizing the mechanical property of a nanopipette that can be potentially taken as a standard specification in the future. This general method can also be used to estimate other one-dimensional structures for cell injection, which will greatly benefit basic cell biology research and clinical applications. (paper)

Full Text Available Laser bending of sheet metals with preload offers some attractive characteristics/merits, comparing to laser free bending without prestressing on the metals. The study reported in this paper was focused on a Titanium alloy which finds widespread applications in aerospace manufacturing. FE simulation of laser bending with prestressing on the Titanium alloy sheet was conducted for the analysis of the bending process and experiment carried out to verify the model and the result. It was shown that the simulation result is close to that measured in the experiment. Based on the computed result, the load-displacement curve was analysed and transmission efficiency of the elastic energy defined to evaluate the bending effect. These enhanced understanding of the mechanism of laser bending with a preload. A method for the optimization on technological parameters was further proposed. Referring to the deformation targeted, the preload value was determined through the FE simulation. The result showed that, on the premise that the specimen surface can be prevented from damaging, transmission efficiency of the elastic energy could reach to the maximum value through adjusting technological parameters of the laser system and deformation accuracy of the specimen could also be improved through this approach. The work presented in this paper may find its application in the manufacture of Titanium alloy sheets with a more cost-effective and a more precise way.

Passive-dynamic ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) are commonly prescribed to improve locomotion for people with lower limb musculoskeletal weakness. The clinical prescription and design process are typically qualitative and based on observational assessment and experience. Prior work examining the effect of AFO design characteristics generally excludes higher impact activities such as running, providing clinicians and researchers limited information to guide the development of objective prescription guidelines. The proximal location of the bending axis may directly influence energy storage and return and resulting running mechanics. The purpose of this study was to determine if the location of an AFO's bending axis influences running mechanics. Marker and force data were recorded as 12 participants with lower extremity weakness ran overground while wearing a passive-dynamic AFO with posterior struts manufactured with central (middle) and off-centered (high and low) bending axes. Lower extremity joint angles, moments, powers, and ground reaction forces were calculated and compared between limbs and across bending axis conditions. Bending axis produced relatively small but significant changes. Ankle range of motion increased as the bending axis shifted distally (pbenefits during running, although individual preference and physical ability should also be considered. Published by Elsevier B.V.

As the magnetoelectric (ME) effect in piezoelectric/magnetostrictive laminated composites is mediated by mechanical deformation,the ME effect is significantly enhanced in the vicinity of resonance frequency.The bending resonance frequency (fr) of bilayered Terfenol-D/PZT (MP) laminated composites is studied,and our analysis predicts that (i) the bending resonance frequency of an MP laminated composite can be tuned by an applied dc magnetic bias (Hdc) due to the △E effect; (ii) the bending resonance frequency of the MP laminated composite can be controlled by incorporating FeCuNbSiB layers with different thicknesses.The experimental results show that with Hdc increasing from 0Oe (1 Oe=79.5775 A/m)to 700 Oe,the bending resonance frequency can be shifted in a range of 32.68 kHz ≤ fr ≤ 33.96 kHz.In addition,with the thickness of the FeCuNbSiB layer increasing from 0 μm to 90 μm,the bending resonance frequency of the MP laminated composite gradually increases from 33.66 kHz to 39.18 kHz.This study offers a method of adjusting the strength of dc magnetic bias or the thicknesses of the FeCuNbSiB layer to tune the bending resonance frequency for ME composite,which plays a guiding role in the ME composite design for real applications.

A vertical steam generator for nuclear power plants and dual purpose power plants consists of a cylindrical vessel in which are placed heating tubes in the form upside-down U. The heating tubes lead to the jacket of the cylindrical collector placed in the lower part of the steam generator perpendicularly to its vertical axis. The cylindrical collector is divided by a longitudinal partition into the inlet and outlet primary water sections of the heating tubes. One ends of the heating tube leads to the jacket of the collector for primary water feeding and the second ends of the heating tubes into the jacket of the collector which feeds and offtakes primary water from the heating tubes. (B.S.)

Organic switching devices such as field effect transistors (OFETs) are a key element of future flexible electronic devices. So far, however, a commercial breakthrough has not been achieved because these devices usually lack in switching speed (e.g. for logic applications) and current density (e.g. for display pixel driving). The limited performance is caused by a combination of comparatively low charge carrier mobilities and the large channel length caused by the need for low-cost structuring. Vertical Organic Transistors are a novel technology that has the potential to overcome these limitations of OFETs. Vertical Organic Transistors allow to scale the channel length of organic transistors into the 100 nm regime without cost intensive structuring techniques. Several different approaches have been proposed in literature, which show high output currents, low operation voltages, and comparatively high speed even without sub-μm structuring technologies. In this review, these different approaches are compared and recent progress is highlighted.

Stretch bending is commonly used to shape thin-walled extrusions in aerospace and automotive industries. The extrusions are pre-stretched and bent over rigid curved dies. Effective application of this process demands sufficient knowledge of how different parameters influence the final shape of the product. Numerical simulation is an effective approach to investigate these issues presently. However, the validity of simulation result depends strongly on a precise description of the mechanical behavior of the material. Due to crystallographic texture caused by the extrusion process, aluminium extrusions exhibit significant plastic anisotropy which need be described by advanced constitutive model. In this work stretch bending of aluminum extrusions is simulated by using different anisotropic criteria (Hill quadratic, Barlat three-parameter). The influence of two yield criteria on predicting maximum die force immediately before unloading, permanent sagging and vertical springback displacement in the middle section of extrusion are compared. Maximum die force and springback calculated by two yield criteria are found to be almost same. Permanent sagging is obviously underestimated by two yield criteria, however, prediction by Barlat three-parameter is closer to experiment than one of Hill quadratic yield criterion

Unlike mammalian, disc-shaped intervertebral joints (IVJs), the IVJs in fishes are biconid structures, filled with fluid and thought to act as hydrostatic hinge joints during swimming. However, it remains unclear which IVJ structures are dominant in mechanical resistance to forces in fishes, and whether variation in these tissues might impact the function of the vertebral column along its length. Here, we measured the dynamic mechanical behaviour of IVJs from striped bass, Morone saxatilis. During lateral bending, angular stiffness was significantly lower in the caudal and cervical regions, relative to the abdominal region. The neutral zone, defined as the range of motion (ROM) at bending moments less than 0.001 Nm, was longer in the caudal relative to the abdominal IVJs. Hysteresis was 30-40% in all regions, suggesting that IVJs may play a role in energy dissipation during swimming. Cutting the vertical septum had no statistically significant effect, but cutting the encapsulating tissues caused a sharp decline in angular stiffness and a substantial increase in ROM and hysteresis. We conclude that stiffness decreases and ROM increases from cranial to caudal in striped bass, and that the encapsulating tissues play a prominent role in mechanical variation along the length of the vertebral column.

The algorithm used in this paper is the Newton Block Gauss Seidel method, which has been applied to both simple and complex flow conditions in two-phase flow. This paper contains a description of difference techniques and an iterative solution algorithm that is used to solve the field and constitutive equations of the two-fluid model. In practice, this solution procedure has been proven to be stable and capable of generating solutions in problems where other schemes have failed. The method converges rapidly for reasonable error tolerances and is easily extended to three-dimensional geometries. Using air-water as the two-phase medium, transient flow behavior in several geometries of interest are shown. Flow through a vertical channel with flow obstruction, large U bends, and 90-deg bends are being demonstrated with variation of inlet void fraction and slip ratio. Significant changes in the velocity and void distribution profiles have been observed. Various regions of flow recirculation are obtained in the flow domain for each phase. The phasic velocity and void distributions are dominated by gravity-induced phase separation causing air to accumulate in the upper region. The influence of inlet slip ratio and interfacial momentum transfer on the transient flow profile has been demonstrated in detail

Magnetic field features of the combined function bending magnet with dipole and quadrupole field components are essential for the successful operation of the electron beam trajectory. These fields also dominate the photon beam quality. The vertical magnetic field B y (x,y) calculation is performed by a computer code MAGNET at the magnet center (s = 0). Those results are compared with the 2-D field measurement by the Hall probe mapping system. Also detailed survey has been made of the harmonic field strength and the main features of the fundamental integrated strength, effective length, magnetic symmetry, tilt of the pole face, offset of the field center and the fringe field. The end shims that compensate for the strong end negative sextupole field to increase the good field region for the entire integrated strength are discussed. An important physical feature of this combined function bending magnet is the constant ratio of dipole and quadrupole strength ∫Bds/∫Gds which is expressed as a function of excitation current in the energy range 0.6 to 1.5 GeV

In order to study the two-phase natural circulation and flow termination during a small break loss of coolant accident in LWR, simulation experiments have been performed. Based on the two-phase flow scaling criteria developed under this program, an adiabatic hot leg U-bend simulation loop using nitrogen gas and water and a Freon 113 boiling and condensation loop were built. The nitrogen-water system has been used to isolate key hydrodynamic phenomena from heat transfer problems, whereas the Freon loop has been used to study the effect of phase changes and fluid properties. Various tests were carried out to establish the basic mechanism of the flow termination and reestablishment as well as to obtain essential information on scale effects of parameters such as the loop frictional resistance, thermal center, U-bend curvature and inlet geometry. In addition to the above experimental study, a preliminary modeling study has been carried out for two-phase flow in a large vertical pipe at relatively low gas fluxes typical of natural circulation conditions

Experimental results are presented on the flow behavior, pressure drop characteristics, and dryout characteristics by joule heating for the gas-water flow through U-shaped and inverted U-shaped tubes invertical plane. The height of the vertical straight section of the test tube is 4100 mm, and two bend radii, 116 mm and 435 mm, are chosen for the experiments. The test tubes used are of transparent acrylic resin for the flow behavior test, and of stainless steel for the other tests, inside diameter being 18 mm for the former and 18.5 mm for the latter. Flow patterns in the vertical upflow and downflow sections are shown on the diagram of the superficial gas velocity versus liquid velocity. Further, the flow behavior in the bend section is made clear in relation to flow rates of gas and liquid. The pressure drop between inlet and outlet of the test tube for the made clear in relation to flow rates of gas and liquid. The pressure drop between inlet and outlet of the test tube for the two-phase flow is shown in comparison with that for the single-phase flow of water. The threshold conditions of dryout in the bend section by joule heatig are shown on the diagram of the superficial gas velocity versus liquid velocity. The location of the dryout in the bend section is also clarified. (orig.)

Selective laser melting (SLM) is a versatile additive manufacturing process for fabricating solid or porous metallic materials with complicated three-dimensional shapes. SLM Ti alloys, particularly Ti-6Al-4V, and other alloys have been manufactured and analyzed in numerous studies. However, the high anisotropy of the microstructures and inconsistent mechanical properties of SLM materials have been extensively reported, and these disadvantages could prohibit its widespread use. To clarify how to alleviate the anisotropic behaviors of SLM materials, the main objective of this study was to evaluate the influences of hot isostatic pressing (HIP) on the microstructure, densification, bending strength, impact toughness, and fracture behavior of the as-built Ti-6Al-4V alloy. The results showed that the vertical and horizontal building directions obviously affect the bending and impact properties of as-built alloys. The transverse rupture strength (TRS) and impact energy of the horizontally-built alloy were respectively found to be 48% and 100% higher than those of the vertically-built one. In the vertically-built alloy, disc-shaped building defects, identified by X-ray computed tomography (CT) and microscopy, obviously reduce the effective load-bearing cross-section and deteriorate the bending and impact performances. After HIP at 1000 °C/150 MPa, the α′-martensite structure in the as-built alloy is transformed into an α+β lamellar one, and the disc-shaped building defects are evidently eliminated. As a result, the impact energies of as-built vertical and horizontal specimens are improved by 28 J (560%) and 19 J (190%), respectively, and the TRS of the as-built vertical alloy is raised by 550 MPa (37%). Consequently, the discrepancies in TRS and impact energy between the HIPed vertical and horizontal specimens are merely 3% and 14%, respectively, and the anisotropic behaviors of the SLM Ti-6Al-4V alloy are thus substantially lessened.

Selective laser melting (SLM) is a versatile additive manufacturing process for fabricating solid or porous metallic materials with complicated three-dimensional shapes. SLM Ti alloys, particularly Ti-6Al-4V, and other alloys have been manufactured and analyzed in numerous studies. However, the high anisotropy of the microstructures and inconsistent mechanical properties of SLM materials have been extensively reported, and these disadvantages could prohibit its widespread use. To clarify how to alleviate the anisotropic behaviors of SLM materials, the main objective of this study was to evaluate the influences of hot isostatic pressing (HIP) on the microstructure, densification, bending strength, impact toughness, and fracture behavior of the as-built Ti-6Al-4V alloy. The results showed that the vertical and horizontal building directions obviously affect the bending and impact properties of as-built alloys. The transverse rupture strength (TRS) and impact energy of the horizontally-built alloy were respectively found to be 48% and 100% higher than those of the vertically-built one. In the vertically-built alloy, disc-shaped building defects, identified by X-ray computed tomography (CT) and microscopy, obviously reduce the effective load-bearing cross-section and deteriorate the bending and impact performances. After HIP at 1000 °C/150 MPa, the α′-martensite structure in the as-built alloy is transformed into an α+β lamellar one, and the disc-shaped building defects are evidently eliminated. As a result, the impact energies of as-built vertical and horizontal specimens are improved by 28 J (560%) and 19 J (190%), respectively, and the TRS of the as-built vertical alloy is raised by 550 MPa (37%). Consequently, the discrepancies in TRS and impact energy between the HIPed vertical and horizontal specimens are merely 3% and 14%, respectively, and the anisotropic behaviors of the SLM Ti-6Al-4V alloy are thus substantially lessened.

The late Quaternary marine terraces near Santa Cruz, California, reflect uplift associated with the nearby restraining bend on the San Andreas fault. Excellent correspondence of the coseismic vertical displacement field caused by the 17 October 1989 magnitude 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake and the present elevations of these terraces allows calculation of maximum long-term uplift rates 1 to 2 kilometers west of the San Andreas fault of 0.8 millimeters per year. Over several million years, this uplift, in concert with the right lateral translation of the resulting topography, and with continual attack by geomorphic processes, can account for the general topography of the northern Santa Cruz Mountains.

Full Text Available Although not always resulting in catastrophic failures, vortex-induced vibration (VIV response can seriously impact the fatigue life and functionality of bridges, especially for separate pairs of box girders in cable-stayed bridges. This study investigates the effects of three aerodynamic measures: grating, inclined web plate, and the baffles on separated box girders in the cable-stayed bridges. The experimental result indicates that the grating of different opening ratios can control the vortex-induced vibration effectively, and the optimized grating opening ratio set in this paper is 40%. Increasing the angle of inclined web plate has a great control on mitigation of the vortex-induced vibration. However, there is an optimum angle where the amplitude of vortex-induced vibration is the smallest at low wind speed. The amplitude of vortex-induced vibration becomes larger with the increase of the web inclined angle that exceeds the optimum angle. Comparatively, the baffles installed on both sides of the inclined webs are more effective to restrain the vortex-induced resonance. The Computational Fluent Dynamics (CFD software is utilized to investigate the mechanism of the experimental results.

Studies of limb bone loading in terrestrial mammals have typically found anteroposterior bending to be the primary loading regime, with torsion contributing minimally. However, previous studies have focused on large, cursorial eutherian species in which the limbs are held essentially upright. Recent in vivo strain data from the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), a marsupial that uses a crouched rather than an upright limb posture, have indicated that its femur experiences appreciable torsion during locomotion as well as strong mediolateral bending. The elevated femoral torsion and strong mediolateral bending observed in D. virginiana might result from external forces such as a medial inclination of the ground reaction force (GRF), internal forces deriving from a crouched limb posture, or a combination of these factors. To evaluate the mechanism underlying the loading regime of opossum femora, we filmed D. virginiana running over a force platform, allowing us to measure the magnitude of the GRF and its three-dimensional orientation relative to the limb, facilitating estimates of limb bone stresses. This three-dimensional analysis also allows evaluations of muscular forces, particularly those of hip adductor muscles, in the appropriate anatomical plane to a greater degree than previous two-dimensional analyses. At peak GRF and stress magnitudes, the GRF is oriented nearly vertically, inducing a strong abductor moment at the hip that is countered by adductor muscles on the medial aspect of the femur that place this surface in compression and induce mediolateral bending, corroborating and explaining loading patterns that were identified in strain analyses. The crouched orientation of the femur during stance in opossums also contributes to levels of femoral torsion as high as those seen in many reptilian taxa. Femoral safety factors were as high as those of non-avian reptiles and greater than those of upright, cursorial mammals, primarily because the load

In recent years, the interest in wind turbines with vertical axis noticeably increased. They have some important advantages: low cost, relatively simple structure, reliable packaging system of wind aggregate long period during which require no maintenance, low noise, independence of wind direction, etc.. The relatively low efficiency, however, makes them applicable mainly for small facilities. The work presents a methodology and software for approximately aerodynamic design of wind turbines of this type, and also analyzed the possibility of improving the efficiency of their workflow

Full Text Available The bending strain of long-distance oil and gas pipelines can be calculated by the in-line inspection tool which used inertial measurement unit (IMU. The bending strain is used to evaluate the strain and displacement of the pipeline. During the bending strain inspection, the dent existing in the pipeline can affect the bending strain data as well. This paper presents a novel method to model and calculate the pipeline dent based on the bending strain. The technique takes inertial mapping data from in-line inspection and calculates depth of dent in the pipeline using Bayesian statistical theory and neural network. To verify accuracy of the proposed method, an in-line inspection tool is used to inspect pipeline to gather data. The calculation of dent shows the method is accurate for the dent, and the mean relative error is 2.44%. The new method provides not only strain of the pipeline dent but also the depth of dent. It is more benefit for integrity management of pipeline for the safety of the pipeline.

Organic switching devices such as field effect transistors (OFETs) are a key element of future flexible electronic devices. So far, however, a commercial breakthrough has not been achieved because these devices usually lack in switching speed (e.g. for logic applications) and current density (e.g. for display pixel driving). The limited performance is caused by a combination of comparatively low charge carrier mobilities and the large channel length caused by the need for low-cost structuring. Vertical Organic Transistors are a novel technology that has the potential to overcome these limitations of OFETs. Vertical Organic Transistors allow to scale the channel length of organic transistors into the 100 nm regime without cost intensive structuring techniques. Several different approaches have been proposed in literature, which show high output currents, low operation voltages, and comparatively high speed even without sub-μm structuring technologies. In this review, these different approaches are compared and recent progress is highlighted. (topical review)

Aerodynamic buffet is unsteady airflow exerting forces onto a surface, which can lead to premature fatigue damage of aircraft vertical tail structures, especially for aircrafts with twin vertical tails at high angles of attack. In this work, Macro Fiber Composite (MFC), which can provide strain actuation, was used as the actuator for the buffet-induced vibration control, and the positioning of the MFC patches was led by the strain energy distribution on the vertical tail. Positive Position Feedback (PPF) control algorithm has been widely used for its robustness and simplicity in practice, and consequently it was developed to suppress the buffet responses of first bending and torsional mode of vertical tail. However, its performance is usually attenuated by the phase contributions from non-collocated sensor/actuator configuration and plants. The phase lag between the input and output signals of the control system was identified experimentally, and the phase compensation was considered in the PPF control algorithm. The simulation results of the amplitude frequency of the closed-loop system showed that the buffet response was alleviated notably around the concerned bandwidth. Then the wind tunnel experiment was conducted to verify the effectiveness of MFC actuators and compensated PPF, and the Root Mean Square (RMS) of the acceleration response was reduced 43.4%, 28.4% and 39.5%, respectively, under three different buffeting conditions.

The mass transfer to turbulent flow through back-to-back pipe bends arranged in a 180° configuration with different lengths of pipe between the bends was measured using a dissolving gypsum test section in water. The measurements were performed for bends with a radius of curvature of 1.5 times the pipe diameter ( D) at a Reynolds numbers of 70,000 and Schmidt number of 1280. The maximum mass transfer in the bends decreased from approximately 1.8 times the mass transfer in the upstream pipe when there was no separation distance between the bends to 1.7 times when there was a 1 D or 5 D length of pipe between the bends. The location of the maximum mass transfer was on the inner sidewall downstream of the second bend when there was no separation distance between the bends. This location changed to the inner wall at the beginning of the second bend when there was a 1 D long pipe between the bends, and to the inner sidewall at the end of the first bend when there was a 5 D long pipe between the bends.

This report considers the validity of fracture toughness estimates obtained with small bend specimens in relation to fracture toughness estimates obtained with large specimens. The study is based upon the analysis and comparison of actual test results. The results prove the validity of the fracture toughness determined based upon small bend specimens, especially when the results are only used to determine the fracture toughness transition temperature T o . In this case the possible error is typically less than 5 deg C and at most 10 deg C. It can be concluded that small bend specimens are very suitable for the estimation of fracture toughness in the case of brittle fracture, provided the results are corrected for statistical size effects. (orig.). (20 refs., 17 figs.)

We propose an ultra-thin elastic cloak to control the scattering of bending waves in isotropic heterogeneous thin plates. The cloak design makes use of the scattering cancellation technique applied, for the first time, to the biharmonic operator describing the propagation of bending waves in thin plates. We first analyze scattering from hard and soft cylindrical objects in the quasistatic limit, then we prove that the scattering of bending waves from an object in the near and far-field regions can be suppressed significantly by covering it with a suitably designed coating. Beyond camouflaging, these findings may have potential applications in protection of buildings from earthquakes and isolating structures from vibrations in the motor vehicle industry.

Using the third-order shear deflection beam theory (TBT), nonlinear bending of functionally graded (FG) beams composed with various amounts of ceramic and metal is analyzed utilizing the differential quadrature method (DQM). The properties of beam material are supposed to accord with the power law index along to thickness. First, according to the principle of stationary potential energy, the partial differential control formulae of the FG beams subjected to a distributed lateral force are derived. To obtain numerical results of the nonlinear bending, non-dimensional boundary conditions and control formulae are dispersed by applying the DQM. To verify the present solution, several examples are analyzed for nonlinear bending of homogeneous beams with various edges. A minute parametric research is in progress about the effect of the law index, transverse shear deformation, distributed lateral force and boundary conditions.

To determine correlation between geometry and material three different model films: polymethylsiloxane (PDMS), polystyrene (PS), and polycarbonate (PC), were singly bent and doubly bent (forming D-cones). Bends were chosen as they are fundamental in larger complex geometries such as origami and crumples. Bending was carried out between two plates taking force and displacement measurements. Processing of data using moment equations yielded values for bending moduli for studied films that were close to accepted values. Force recovery showed logarithmic trends for PDMS and stretched exponential trends for PS and PC. In a separate experiment a triblock copolymer of polystyrene-polyacrylic acid-polystyrene was subjected to different good and bad solvent mixing with any resulting particle morphology examined. Particles formed more uniformly with high water concentration, particles formed with high toluene concentration and agitation yielded three separate morphologies.

We propose an ultra-thin elastic cloak to control the scattering of bending waves in isotropic heterogeneous thin plates. The cloak design makes use of the scattering cancellation technique applied, for the first time, to the biharmonic operator describing the propagation of bending waves in thin plates. We first analyze scattering from hard and soft cylindrical objects in the quasistatic limit, then we prove that the scattering of bending waves from an object in the near and far-field regions can be suppressed significantly by covering it with a suitably designed coating. Beyond camouflaging, these findings may have potential applications in protection of buildings from earthquakes and isolating structures from vibrations in the motor vehicle industry.

This document was prepared for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to assist them in determining whether the River Bend Station Unit 1 Technical Specifications (T/S), which govern plant systems configurations and operations, are in conformance with the requirements of the Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) as amended, and the requirements of the Safety Evaluation Report (SER) as supplemented. A comparative audit of the FSAR as amended, and the SER as supplemented was performed with the River Bend T/S. Several discrepancies were identified and subsequently resolved through discussions with the cognizant NRC reviewer, NRC staff reviewers and/or utility representatives. The River Bend Station Unit 1 T/S, to the extent reviewed, are in conformance with the FSAR and SER

This paper presents a new piezoelectric micromotor based on the structure of serial bending arms. Serial bending arms are composed of two piezoelectric bimorphs with one end fixed and the other end free, driven by two signals of a biased square wave with a phase difference of pi/2. The free end of a cantilever arm will move along an elliptic orbit so that the cantilever is used to drive a cylinder rotor. The rotor's end surface contacts the free end of the cantilever, resulting in the rotor's rotation. There are six serial bending arms anchored on the base. The driving mechanism of the micromotor is proposed and analyzed. A new micromotor prototype, 5 mm in diameter, has been fabricated and characterized. The maximum rotational speed reaches 325 rpm, and the output torque is about 36.5 microNm.

Longitudinal-bending mode ultrasonic motors with a diameter of 3 mm were fabricated using stacked multilayer piezoelectric actuators, which were self-developed from hard lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic. A bending vibration was converted from a longitudinal vibration with a longitudinal-bending coupler. The motors could be bidirectionally operated by changing driving frequency. Their starting and braking torque were analyzed based on the transient velocity response. With a load of moment of inertia 2.5 x 10(-7) kgm2, the motor showed a maximum starting torque of 127.5 microNm. The braking torque proved to be a constant independent on the motor's driving conditions and was roughly equivalent to the maximum starting torque achievable with our micromotors.

Methodology for testing 3.0 mm diameter by 0.25 mm thick disks by bending in a punch and die has been described previously. This paper describes the analysis of load/deflection data from such miniaturized disk bend tests (MDBT) using a finite element simulation. Good simulation has been achieved up to a point just beyond the predominantly elastic response, linear initial region. The load at which deviation from linearity begins has been found to correlate with yield stress, and yield stress has been successfully extracted from disk bend tests of a number of known materials. Although finite element codes capable of dealing with large strains and large rotations have been used, simulation of the entire load/deflection curve up to fracture of the specimen has not yet been achieved

Finite-element analysis based on elastic-perfectly plastic material was conducted to examine the influence of structural deformations on collapse loads of circumferential through-wall critically cracked 90 .deg. pipe bends undergoing in-plane closing bending and internal pressure. The critical crack is defined for a through-wall circumferential crack at the extrados with a subtended angle below which there is no weakening effect on collapse moment of elbows subjected to in-plane closing bending. Elliptical and semioval cross sections were postulated at the bend regions and compared. Twice-elastic-slope method was utilized to obtain the collapse loads. Structural deformations, namely, ovality and thinning, were each varied from 0% to 20% in steps of 5% and the normalized internal pressure was varied from 0.2 to 0.6. Results indicate that elliptic cross sections were suitable for pipe ratios 5 and 10, whereas for pipe ratio 20, semioval cross sections gave satisfactory solutions. The effect of ovality on collapse loads is significant, although it cancelled out at a certain value of applied internal pressure. Thinning had a negligible effect on collapse loads of bends with crack geometries considered.

We propose a mechanism for optical energy squeezing and anomalous light transmission through arbitrarily-shaped plasmonic ultranarrow channels and bends connecting two larger plasmonic metal-insulator-metal waveguides. It is shown how a proper design of subwavelength optical channels at cutoff, patterned by plasmonic implants and connecting larger plasmonic waveguides, may allow enhanced resonant transmission inspired by the anomalous properties of epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) metamaterials. The resonant transmission is shown to be only weakly dependent on the channel length and its specific geometry, such as possible presence of abruptions and bends

For the simplest problem of gravity - a static, non-rotating, spherically symmetric source - the solution for spacetime bending around the Sun should be evenly split between time and space. That is true to first order in M/R, and confirmed by experiment. At second order, general relativity predicts different amounts of contribution from time and space without a physical justification. I show an exponential metric is consistent with light bending to first order, measurably different at second order. All terms to all orders show equal contributions from space and time. Beautiful minimalism is Nature's way.

We provide direct experimental evidence to show that difference in surface topography on opposite sides of an uncoated microcantilever induces bending, upon exposure to water molecules. Examination on opposite sides of the microcantilever by atomic force microscopy reveals the presence of localized surface features on one side, which renders the induced stress non-uniform. Further, the root mean square inclination angle characterizing the surface topography shows a difference of 73° between the opposite sides. The absence of deflection in another uncoated microcantilever having similar surface topography confirms that in former microcantilever bending is indeed induced by differences in surface topography

Cyclic fatigue under rotary bending tests were conducted on partially stabilized zirconia (PSZ) from NGK and Nilsen, and silicon nitride from NGK and Norton. Fractography was performed on the failed specimens to determine the fracture structure and morphology. The results showed that the cyclic fatigue fracture was the same as the fracture structure previously observed in bending tests. The cyclic fatigue data indicated that structural ceramic could function in fatigue stress levels at a higher percentage of their average fast fracture strength than the fifty percent of ultimate strength used for wrought steels

In Northern Central America, the portion of the incoming Cocos oceanic plate formed at the East Pacific Rise has a seafloor spreading fabric that is oriented nearly parallel to the trench axis, whereby flexural bending at the outer rise reactivates a dense network of dormant abyssal hill faults. If bending-induced normal faults behave as fluid pathways they may promote extensive mantle hydration and significantly raise the flux of fluids into the subduction system. Multi-channel seismic reflection data imaged bend faults that extend several kilometers beneath the Moho offshore Nicaragua, coincident with seismic refraction data showing significant P-wave velocity reductions in both the crust and uppermost mantle. Ignoring the effect of fracture porosity, the observed mantle velocity reduction is equivalent to an upper bound of 15-20% serpentinization (or 2.0-2.5 wt% H2O). Yet the impact of bend faulting on porosity structure and crustal hydration are not well known. Here, we present results on the electrical resistivity structure of the incoming Cocos plate offshore Nicaragua, the first controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) experiment at a subduction zone. The CSEM data imaged several sub-vertical conductive channels extending beneath fault scarps to 5.5 km below seafloor, providing independent evidence for fluid infiltration into the oceanic crust via bending faults. We applied Archie's Law to estimate porosity from the resistivity observations: the dike and gabbro layers increase from 2.7% and 0.7% porosity at 100 km to 4.8% and 1.7% within 20 km of the trench, respectively. In contrast the resistivity, and hence porosity, remain relatively unchanged at sub-Moho depths. Therefore, either the faults do not provide an additional flux of free water to the mantle or, in light of the reduced seismic velocities, the volumetric expansion resulting from mantle serpentinization rapidly consumes any fault-generated porosity. Since our crustal porosity estimates seaward

bending fixture is manufactured in polyetheretherketon and a dedicated silicon chip with embedded piezoresistors fits in the fixture. The fixture is actuated by a microstepper actuator and a high sensitivity force sensor measures the applied force on the fixture and chip. The setup includes heaters...

Experimental data of the DNA cyclization (J-factor) at short length scales exceed the theoretical expectation based on the wormlike chain (WLC) model by several orders of magnitude. Here, we propose that asymmetric bending rigidity of the double helix in the groove direction can be responsible for

In this paper, we present a method to align optical fibers within 0.2 μm of the optimal position, using tube laser bending and in situ measuring of the coupling efficiency. For near-UV wavelengths, passive alignment of the fibers with respect to the waveguides on photonic integrated circuit chips

This article presents a soft pneumatic bending actuator using a magnetically assisted bilayer composite composed of silicone polymer and ferromagnetic particles. Bilayer composites were fabricated by mixing ferromagnetic particles to a prepolymer state of silicone in a mold and asymmetrically

In theoretical treatments of tidal bending of floating glaciers, the glacier is usually modelled as an elastic beam with uniform thickness, resting on an elastic foundation. With a few exceptions, values of the elastic (Young's) modulus E of ice derived from tidal deflection records of floating...

-twist coupling magnitude of up to 0.2 is feasible to achieve in the baseline blade structure made of glass-fiber reinforced plastics. Further, by substituting the glass-fibers with carbon-fibers the coupling effect can be increased to 0.4. Additionally, the effect of introduction of bend-twist coupling...

Air-water experiments were carried out in a horizontal 1" pipe system to measure the magnitude of the forces induced by the multiphase flow. Forces and accelerations were measured on a number of bends and T-joint configurations for a wide range of operating conditions. Five different configurations

The stress analysis and stress relaxation in mitred bend subjected to internal pressure have been studied by means of the photoelastic stress freezing method. The experimental results show that stress concentration occurs in the wedge tip of the intersectional plane and it is considerably influenced by the bent angle. Then, the stress relaxation was obtained by planing the wedge tip. (author)

Full Text Available Existing investigations on imperfect phononic crystal beams mainly concern periodic multi-span beams carrying either one or two channel waves with random or deterministic disorder in span-length. This paper studies the two channel bending waves in phononic crystal beams consisting of many phases of materials with defects introduced as one structural segment having different cross-sectional dimensions or material parameters. The method of reverberation-ray matrix (MRRM based on the Timoshenko beam theory, which can conduct high-frequency analysis, is extended for the theoretical analysis of dispersion and transmission of bending waves. The supercell technique and the Floquet–Bloch theorem are adopted for modeling the dispersion characteristics, and the whole finite structural model is used to calculate the transmission spectra. Experimental measurements and numerical calculations are provided to validate the displacement transmission obtained by the proposed MRRM, with the effect of damping on transmission spectra being concerned. The high-frequency calculation applicability of the proposed MRRM is also confirmed by comparing the present results with the corresponding ones either using the transfer matrix method (TMM or MRRM based on Euler—Bernoulli beam theory. The influences of defect size, defect form, and unit-cell number on the transmission spectra and the band structures are discussed. The drawn conclusions may be useful for designing or evaluating the defected phononic crystal beams in bending wave control. In addition, our conclusions are especially potential for identifying the defect location through bending wave signals.

-located radiosondes, climatology of tropopause altitudes and GOES analyses are also shown to support the hypothesis that the bending angle anomaly can be used as an indicator of convective towers. The results are discussed in connection to the GPS radio occultation receiver which will be part of the Atomic Clock...

A design analysis of the mixed mode bending (MMB) sandwich specimen for face–core interface fracture characterization is presented. An analysis of the competing failure modes in the foam cored sandwich specimens is performed in order to achieve face–core debond fracture prior to other failure modes...... for the chosen geometries and mixed mode loading conditions....

PVDF) film was studied. The quantity, β31, defined as the bending piezoelectric stress constant, was calculated. After hexane treatment and uniaxial stretching of the PVDF film, the value of β31 was 5.75 mV/m and 8.00 mV/m for draw ratio of ...

This effort focuses initially on the Clinch Bend site. Other sites and developable tracts of land are identified with the assistance of communities in proximity to Oak Ridge, the State of Tennessee, and others, and compared with the projected site requirements for large industrial facilities.

Dynamic experimental studies of the plastic shear/bending buckling of cylindrical shells were performed. They clarified the inelastic response reduction and the seismic margin of FBR reactor vessels. The test results were incorporated into the draft of the seismic buckling design guidelines of FBR. (author). 15 refs., 3 figs

signature in radio occultation profiles in the tropical tropopause layer. Using tropical cyclone best track database and data from the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC), we show that the bending angle anomaly of a GPS radio occultation signal is typically larger...

Secondary currents are a characteristic feature of flow in open-channel bends. Besides the classical helical motion (centre-region cell), a weaker and smaller counter-rotating circulation cell (outer-bank cell) is often observed near the outer bank, which is believed to play an important role in

Full Text Available We report a novel rotary piezoelectric motor using bending transducers in this work. Three transducers are used to drive a disk-shaped rotor together by the elliptical movements of their driving tips; these motions are produced by the hybrid of two first bending vibration modes. The proposed piezoelectric transducer has a simple structure as it only contains an aluminum alloy beam and four pieces of PZT plates. Symmetrical structure is the only necessary condition in the design process as it will ensure the resonance frequencies of the two orthogonal first bending modes are equal. Transducers with first bending resonance frequency of about 53 kHz were fabricated and assembled into a rotary motor. The proposed motor exhibits good performance on speed and torque control. Under a working frequency of 53.2 kHz, the maximum no-load speed and the maximum torque of the prototype are tested to be 53.3 rpm and of 27 mN·m.

The Hawaiian-Emperor Seamount chain records the motion of the Pacific Plate relative to the Hawaiian mantle hotspot for ˜80 m.y. A notable feature of the chain is the pronounced bend at its middle. This bend had been widely credited to a change in plate motion, but recent research suggests a change in hotspot motion as an alternative. Existing paleomagnetic data from the Emperor Chain suggest that the hotspot moved south during the Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary, but reached its current latitude by the age of the bend. Thus, data from area of the bend are important for understanding changes in plume latitude. In this study, we analyze the magnetic anomalies of five seamounts (Annei, Daikakuji-W, Daikakuji- E, Abbott, and Colahan) in the region of the bend. These particular seamounts were chosen because they have been recently surveyed to collect multibeam bathymetry and magnetic data positioned with GPS navigation. Inversions of the magnetic and bathymetric data were performed to determine the mean magnetization of each seamount and from these results, paleomagnetic poles and paleolatitudes were calculated. Three of the five seamounts have reversed magnetic polarities (two are normal) and four contain a small volume of magnetic polarity opposite to the main body, consistent with formation during the Early Cenozoic, a time of geomagnetic field reversals. Although magnetization inhomogene ties can degrade the accuracy of paleomagnetic poles calculated from such models, the seamounts give results consistent with one another and with other Pacific paleomagnetic data of approximately the same age. Seamount paleolatitudes range from 13.7 to 23.7, with an average of 19.4 ± 7.4 (2σ). These values are indistinguishable from the present-day paleolatitude of the Hawaiian hotspot. Together with other paleomagnetic and geologic evidence, these data imply that the Hawaiian hotspot has moved little in latitude during the past ˜45 m.y.

The paper discusses the possibility to control coupled bending-twisting vibrations of anisotropic composite wing by means of the monoclinic structures in the reinforcement of the plating. Decomposing the potential straining energy and kinetic energy of natural vibration modes into interacting and non-interacting parts, it became possible to introduce the two coefficients that integrally consider the effect of geometry and reinforcement structure upon the dynamic response parameters of the wing. The first of these coefficients describes the elastic coupling of the natural vibration modes, the second coefficient describes the inertial one. The paper describes the numerical studies showing how the orientation of considerably anisotropic CRP layers in the plating affects natural frequencies, loss factors, coefficients of elastic and inertial coupling for several lower tones of natural bending-twisting vibrations of the wing. Besides, for each vibration mode, partial values of the above mentioned dynamic response parameters were determined by means of the relationships for orthotropic structures where instead of "free" shearing modulus in the reinforcement plant, "pure" shearing modulus is used. Joint analysis of the obtained results has shown that each pair of bending-twisting vibration modes has its orientation angle ranges of the reinforcing layers where the inertial coupling caused by asymmetry of the cross-section profile with respect to the main axes of inertia decreases, down to the complete extinction, due to the generation of the elastic coupling in the plating material. These ranges are characterized by the two main features: 1) the difference in the natural frequencies of the investigated pair of bending-twisting vibration modes is the minimum and 2) natural frequencies of bending-twisting vibrations belong to a stretch restricted by corresponding partial natural frequencies of the investigated pair of vibration modes. This result is of practical importance

Mining Engineers have always been aware of the basic need to avoid contamination of the mined product, by controlling the cutting horizon at the coal face. The ability to maintain the optimum cutting horizon results in more effective roof control and ensures a safer and more efficient working environment, for men and machinery. The cost of treatment in the surface coal preparation plant is reduced. Transportation through the total mine system of material finally destined for the spoil heap is minimised. A reduction in product contamination is achieved and makes more effective use of the mine capacity. These benefits make possible significant improvements in productivity and financial returns. Exploitation of micro computer based systems has enabled the successful development of equipment which employs sensors to detect the very low natural gamma radiation from roof strata; to determine and allow control of the position of the cut relative to the roof and floor. This paper reviews the experience gained by the National Coal Board, particularly in South Yorkshire Area, with the vertical steering of ranging drum shearers. It outlines the benefits and considers the future for this technology and its contribution to total coal face automation

This paper presents a comparison of the plastic collapse loads from experimental in-plane bending tests on three 90 o single un-reinforced mitred pipe bends, with the results from various 3D solid finite element models. The bending load applied reduced the bend angle and in turn, the resulting cross-sectional ovalisation led to a recognised weakening mechanism. In addition, at maximum load there was a reversal in stiffness, characteristic of buckling. This reversal in stiffness was accompanied by significant ovalisation and plasticity at the mitre intersection. Both the weakening mechanism and the post-buckling behaviour are only observable by testing or by including large displacement effects in the plastic finite element solution. A small displacement limit solution with an elastic-perfectly plastic material model overestimated the collapse load by more than 40% and could not reproduce the buckling behaviour. The plastic collapse finite element solution, with large displacements, produced excellent agreement with the experiment. Sufficient experimental detail is presented for these results to be used as a benchmark for analysts in this area. Given the robustness of non-linear solutions in commercial finite element codes and the ready availability of computing resources, it is argued that pressure vessel code developers should now be recommending large displacement analysis as the default position for limit and plastic collapse analyses, rather than expecting engineers to anticipate weakening mechanisms and related non-linear phenomena.

Full Text Available The paper describes the numerical simulation of the vertical random vibration of train-slab track-bridge interaction system by means of finite element method and pseudoexcitation method. Each vehicle is modeled as four-wheelset mass-spring-damper system with two-layer suspension systems. The rail, slab, and bridge girder are modeled by three-layer elastic Bernoulli-Euler beams connected with each other by spring and damper elements. The equations of motion for the entire system are derived according to energy principle. By regarding rail irregularity as a series of multipoint, different-phase random excitations, the random load vectors of the equations of motion are obtained by pseudoexcitation method. Taking a nine-span simply supported beam bridge traveled by a train consisting of 8 vehicles as an example, the vertical random vibration responses of the system are investigated. Firstly, the suitable number of discrete frequencies of rail irregularity is obtained by numerical experimentations. Secondly, the reliability and efficiency of pseudoexcitation method are verified through comparison with Monte Carlo method. Thirdly, the random vibration characteristics of train-slab track-bridge interaction system are analyzed by pseudoexcitation method. Finally, applying the 3σ rule for Gaussian stochastic process, the maximum responses of train-slab track-bridge interaction system with respect to various train speeds are studied.

Full Text Available Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS radio occultation (RO observations are highly accurate, long-term stable data sets and are globally available as a continuous record from 2001. Essential climate variables for the thermodynamic state of the free atmosphere – such as pressure, temperature, and tropospheric water vapor profiles (involving background information – can be derived from these records, which therefore have the potential to serve as climate benchmark data. However, to exploit this potential, atmospheric profile retrievals need to be very accurate and the remaining uncertainties quantified and traced throughout the retrieval chain from raw observations to essential climate variables. The new Reference Occultation Processing System (rOPS at the Wegener Center aims to deliver such an accurate RO retrieval chain with integrated uncertainty propagation. Here we introduce and demonstrate the algorithms implemented in the rOPS for uncertainty propagation from excess phase to atmospheric bending angle profiles, for estimated systematic and random uncertainties, including vertical error correlations and resolution estimates. We estimated systematic uncertainty profiles with the same operators as used for the basic state profiles retrieval. The random uncertainty is traced through covariance propagation and validated using Monte Carlo ensemble methods. The algorithm performance is demonstrated using test day ensembles of simulated data as well as real RO event data from the satellite missions CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP; Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC; and Meteorological Operational Satellite A (MetOp. The results of the Monte Carlo validation show that our covariance propagation delivers correct uncertainty quantification from excess phase to bending angle profiles. The results from the real RO event ensembles demonstrate that the new uncertainty estimation chain performs

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) observations are highly accurate, long-term stable data sets and are globally available as a continuous record from 2001. Essential climate variables for the thermodynamic state of the free atmosphere - such as pressure, temperature, and tropospheric water vapor profiles (involving background information) - can be derived from these records, which therefore have the potential to serve as climate benchmark data. However, to exploit this potential, atmospheric profile retrievals need to be very accurate and the remaining uncertainties quantified and traced throughout the retrieval chain from raw observations to essential climate variables. The new Reference Occultation Processing System (rOPS) at the Wegener Center aims to deliver such an accurate RO retrieval chain with integrated uncertainty propagation. Here we introduce and demonstrate the algorithms implemented in the rOPS for uncertainty propagation from excess phase to atmospheric bending angle profiles, for estimated systematic and random uncertainties, including vertical error correlations and resolution estimates. We estimated systematic uncertainty profiles with the same operators as used for the basic state profiles retrieval. The random uncertainty is traced through covariance propagation and validated using Monte Carlo ensemble methods. The algorithm performance is demonstrated using test day ensembles of simulated data as well as real RO event data from the satellite missions CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP); Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC); and Meteorological Operational Satellite A (MetOp). The results of the Monte Carlo validation show that our covariance propagation delivers correct uncertainty quantification from excess phase to bending angle profiles. The results from the real RO event ensembles demonstrate that the new uncertainty estimation chain performs robustly. Together

Highlights: • Ligament rupture and unstable burst pressure tests were conducted with U-bends. • In general, U-bends showed higher ligament rupture and burst pressures than straight tubes. • U-bend test data was bounded by 90% lower limit of the probabilistic models for straight tubes. • Prediction models for straight tubes could be conservatively applied to U-bends. - Abstract: Incidents of U-bend cracking in steam generator (SG) tubes have been reported, some of which have led to tube rupture. Experimental and analytical modeling efforts to determine the failure criteria of flawed SG U-bends are limited. To evaluate structural integrity of flawed U-bends, ligament rupture and unstable burst pressure tests were conducted on 57 and 152 mm bend radius U-bends with axial electrical discharge machining notches. In general, the ligament rupture and burst pressures of the U-bends were higher than those of straight tubes with similar notches. To quantitatively address the test data scatter issue, probabilistic models were introduced. All ligament rupture and burst pressures of U-bends were bounded by 90% lower limits of the probabilistic models for straight tubes. It was concluded that the prediction models for straight tubes could be applied to U-bends to conservatively evaluate the ligament rupture and burst pressures of U-bends with axial flaws.

Highlights: • Ligament rupture and unstable burst pressure tests were conducted with U-bends. • In general, U-bends showed higher ligament rupture and burst pressures than straight tubes. • U-bend test data was bounded by 90% lower limit of the probabilistic models for straight tubes. • Prediction models for straight tubes could be conservatively applied to U-bends. - Abstract: Incidents of U-bend cracking in steam generator (SG) tubes have been reported, some of which have led to tube rupture. Experimental and analytical modeling efforts to determine the failure criteria of flawed SG U-bends are limited. To evaluate structural integrity of flawed U-bends, ligament rupture and unstable burst pressure tests were conducted on 57 and 152 mm bend radius U-bends with axial electrical discharge machining notches. In general, the ligament rupture and burst pressures of the U-bends were higher than those of straight tubes with similar notches. To quantitatively address the test data scatter issue, probabilistic models were introduced. All ligament rupture and burst pressures of U-bends were bounded by 90% lower limits of the probabilistic models for straight tubes. It was concluded that the prediction models for straight tubes could be applied to U-bends to conservatively evaluate the ligament rupture and burst pressures of U-bends with axial flaws.

This paper reports a method to develop a new finite element by source (FES) for a two-dimensional plane problem and a three-dimensional solid problem as a method to analyze ship body structures. The paper describes development of a plate bending element by using a similar method, and the fundamental principle thereof. The present method can prepare a finite element of an arbitrary shape by simply providing a contact point only on a boundary. It can also derive good calculation accuracy with less number of contact points and elements. These facts are shown by examples of analyses on a square plate, a triangle plate and a semi-circular plate. Particularly, since a plate bending problem has a large order of differential calculus in a governing equation, this method being a semi-analytical method derives a result with very good accuracy even with less number of contact points. A hypothetical boundary method or a hypothetical electric charge method presents not a very high accuracy even if a large number of contact points are provided. This is because the method hypothesizes only a bending moment vertical to the boundary, but does not consider a source of the moment relative to the boundary. In contrast, the present method hypothesizes both of bending and twisting as the sources, hence its accuracy is better than with the above two methods. 5 refs., 11 figs., 7 tabs.

This paper reports a method to develop a new finite element by source (FES) for a two-dimensional plane problem and a three-dimensional solid problem as a method to analyze ship body structures. The paper describes development of a plate bending element by using a similar method, and the fundamental principle thereof. The present method can prepare a finite element of an arbitrary shape by simply providing a contact point only on a boundary. It can also derive good calculation accuracy with less number of contact points and elements. These facts are shown by examples of analyses on a square plate, a triangle plate and a semi-circular plate. Particularly, since a plate bending problem has a large order of differential calculus in a governing equation, this method being a semi-analytical method derives a result with very good accuracy even with less number of contact points. A hypothetical boundary method or a hypothetical electric charge method presents not a very high accuracy even if a large number of contact points are provided. This is because the method hypothesizes only a bending moment vertical to the boundary, but does not consider a source of the moment relative to the boundary. In contrast, the present method hypothesizes both of bending and twisting as the sources, hence its accuracy is better than with the above two methods. 5 refs., 11 figs., 7 tabs.

We build a three-country model of international trade in final goods and intermediate inputs and study the relation between different types of trade liberalisation and vertical integration. Firms are heterogeneous with respect to both productivity and factor intensity as observed in data. Final......-good producers face decisions on exporting, vertical integration of intermediate-input production, and whether the intermediate-input production should be offshored to a low-wage country. We find that the fractions of final-good producers that pursue either vertical integration, offshoring, or exporting are all...... increasing when intermediate-input or final-goods trade is liberalised and when the fixed cost of vertical integration is reduced. At the same time, one observes firms that shift away from either vertical integration, offshoring, or exporting. Further, we provide guidance for testing the open...

This work presents a novel silicone-based millimetre scale bending fluidic actuator. Two designs of the bending fluidic actuator are studied: a planer actuator that bends about one axis; and a spatial actuator able to bend about two orthogonal axes. The unique parallel micro-channel design of the fluidic actuators enables operation at low working pressures, while at the same time having a very limited thickness expansion during pressurization. The fluidic actuators can be easily scaled to des...

Full Text Available This paper presents the development of a new three-dimensional brick finite element by the use of the strain based approach for the linear analysis of plate bending. The developed element has the three essential external degrees of freedom (U, V and W at each of the eight corner nodes as well as at the centroidal node. The displacement field of the developed element is based on assumed functions for the various strains satisfying the compatibility equations and the static condensation technique is used for the internal node. The performance of this element is evaluated on several problems related to thick and thin plate bending in linear analysis. The obtained results show the good performances and accuracy of the present element.

The Triple Bend Achromatic (TBA) lattice has the potential for lower natural emittance per period than the Double Bend Achromatic (DBA) lattice for high brightness light sources. However, the DBA has been chosen for 3rd generation light sources more often due to the higher number of undulator straight section available for a comparable emittance. The TBA has considerable flexibility in linear optics tuning while maintaining this emittance advantage. We have used the tune and chromaticity flexibility of a TBA lattice to minimize the lowest order nonlinearities to implement a 3rd order achromatic tune, while maintaining a constant emittance. This frees the geometric sextupoles to counter the higher order nonlinearities. This procedure is being used to improve the nonlinear dynamics of the TBA as a proposed lattice for NSLS-II facility. The flexibility of the TBA lattice will also provide for future upgrade capabilities of the beam parameters

In this paper, an aluminum corrugated sandwich panel with triangular core under bending loads was investigated. Firstly, the equivalent material parameters of the triangular corrugated core layer, which could be considered as an orthotropic panel, were obtained by using Castigliano's theorem and equivalent homogeneous model. Secondly, contributions of the corrugated core layer and two face panels were both considered to compute the equivalent material parameters of the whole structure through the classical lamination theory, and these equivalent material parameters were compared with finite element analysis solutions. Then, based on the Mindlin orthotropic plate theory, this study obtain the closed-form solutions of the displacement for a corrugated sandwich panel under bending loads in specified boundary conditions, and parameters study and comparison by the finite element method were executed simultaneously.

Full Text Available To meet the requirements for low-frequency vibration monitoring, a new type of FBG (fiber Bragg grating accelerometer with a bended spring plate is proposed. Two symmetrical bended spring plates are used as elastic elements, which drive the FBG to produce axial strains equal in magnitude but opposite in direction when exciting vibrations exist, leading to doubling the wavelength shift of the FBG. The mechanics model and a numerical method are presented in this paper, with which the influence of the structural parameters on the sensitivity and the eigenfrequency are discussed. The test results show that the sensitivity of the accelerometer is more than 1000 pm/g when the frequency is within the 0.7–20 Hz range.

We proposed a respiratory monitoring system for living activities in human body based on fiber optic macro-bending for laboratory scale. The respiration sensor consists of a single-mode optical fiber and operating on a wavelength at around 1550 nm. The fiber optic was integrated into an elastic fabric placed on the chest and stomach of the monitored human subject. Deformations of the flexible textile involving deformations of the fiber optic bending curvature, which was proportional to the chest and stomach expansion. The deformation of the fiber was detected using photodetector and processed using microcontroller PIC18F14K50. The results showed that this system able to display various respiration pattern and rate for sleeping, and after walking and running activities in real time.

Analytical modeling of conjugated polymer actuators with complicated electro-chemo-mechanical dynamics is an interesting area for research, due to the wide range of applications including biomimetic robots and biomedical devices. Although there have been extensive reports on modeling the electrochemical dynamics of polypyrrole (PPy) bending actuators, mechanical dynamics modeling of the actuators remains unexplored. PPy actuators can operate with low voltage while producing large displacement in comparison to robotic joints, they do not have friction or backlash, but they suffer from some disadvantages such as creep and hysteresis. In this paper, a complete analytical dynamic model for fast trilayer polypyrrole bending actuators has been proposed and named the analytical multi-domain dynamic actuator (AMDDA) model. First an electrical admittance model of the actuator will be obtained based on a distributed RC line; subsequently a proper mechanical dynamic model will be derived, based on Hamilton's principle. The purposed modeling approach will be validated based on recently published experimental results

Multiwire is the name of a proprietary process for affixing small diameter wires to a flat substrate using digitally controlled machinery. It is currently being used to wind trim coils for the SSC dipoles on a flexible substrate which is wrapped around the beam tube. It is proposed for making multipole coils for the Corrector, a regular arc magnet in each half-cell of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The current Multiwire process does not permit a change in direction of the wire other than 45 degree. The present paper answers the question of whether the 45 degree bends in the flattened coil can be located along straight lines in such a way as to eliminate or reduce higher harmonics in the ends. The more general question of bends located along curves is not addressed

Multiwire is the name of a proprietary process for affixing small diameter wires to a flat substrate using digitally controlled machinery. It is currently being used to wind trim coils for the SSC dipoles on a flexible substrate which is wrapped around the beam tube. It is proposed for making multipole coils for the Corrector, a regular arc magnet in each half-cell of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The current Multiwire process does not permit a change in direction of the wire other than 45 degree. The present paper answers the question of whether the 45 degree bends in the flattened coil can be located along straight lines in such a way as to eliminate or reduce higher harmonics in the ends. The more general question of bends located along curves is not addressed. 3 refs., 3 figs., 2 tabs

A proper description of the bending behavior is crucial to obtain accurate forming simulations, especially for continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites. These materials exhibit a highly temperature and bending-curvature dependent bending stiffness. These dependencies make the property

bend is better reproduced by the low-Re models. Turbulence levels within the rotating U-bend are underpredicted, but DSM models produce a more realistic distribution. Along the leading side, all models overpredict heat transfer levels just after the bend. Along the trailing side, the heat transfer predictions of the low-Re DSM with the NYap, are close to the measurements.

A comparison of bending speed and experimental setups using 3-point or 4-point bending for introduction of flex cracks into multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) in a controlled manner is presented. The impact of bending speed and corresponding strain rates on the formed flex cracks detected by X...

This article presents a soft pneumatic bending actuator using a magnetically assisted bilayer composite composed of silicone polymer and ferromagnetic particles. Bilayer composites were fabricated by mixing ferromagnetic particles to a prepolymer state of silicone in a mold and asymmetrically distributed them by applying a strong non-uniform magnetic field to one side of the mold during the curing process. The biased magnetic field induces sedimentation of the ferromagnetic particles toward o...

The study of a deformation features of metal alloys which are sensitive to tension or compression loading is an important technical challenge in the design and creation of a new shipbuilding and aircraft constructions. We use a mathematical model for the elastic-plastic bending of such material where SD(strength-different) parameter is taken into account. The problem is solved analytically and numerically. As an example of the material with the SD-effect the steel alloy is considered.

A research program to explore the phenomenon of emittance growth in bends due to noninertial space-charge effects has been defined and initiated. The program combines theoretical, numerical, and experimental investigations. This paper summarizes the motivation of the work and highlights CEBAF's need for immediate results. The program's key elements, some of which qualitatively differ from the standard approach used to investigate the production and effects of coherent synchrotron radiation in synchrotrons and storage rings, are enumerated and discussed. 1 fig

A storage ring where electrostatic fields contribute to the bending and focusing of the orbital motion has some novel features because, unlike a magnetostatic field, an electrostatic field can change the kinetic energy of the particles. I present analytical formulas to calculate the linear focusing gradient, dispersion, momentum compaction and natural chromaticity for a storage ring with a radial electrostatic field. I solve the formulas explicitly for a weak focusing model.

In this paper, we describe our research on bio-inspired locomotion systems using deformable structures and smart materials, concretely shape memory alloys (SMAs). These types of materials allow us to explore the possibility of building motor-less and gear-less robots. A swimming underwater fish-like robot has been developed whose movements are generated using SMAs. These actuators are suitable for bending the continuous backbone of the fish, which in turn causes a change in the curvature o...

Typically, the vertical component of the ground motion is not considered explicitly in seismic design of bridges, but in some cases the vertical component can have a significant effect on the structural response. The key question of when the vertical component should be incorporated in design is answered by the probabilistic seismic hazard assessment study incorporating the probabilistic seismic demand models and ground motion models. Nonlinear simulation models with varying configurations of an existing bridge in California were considered in the analytical study. The simulation models were subjected to the set of selected ground motions in two stages: at first, only horizontal components of the motion were applied; while in the second stage the structures were subjected to both horizontal and vertical components applied simultaneously and the ground motions that produced the largest adverse effects on the bridge system were identified. Moment demand in the mid-span and at the support of the longitudinal girder and the axial force demand in the column are found to be significantly affected by the vertical excitations. These response parameters can be modeled using simple ground motion parameters such as horizontal spectral acceleration and vertical spectral acceleration within 5% to 30% error margin depending on the type of the parameter and the period of the structure. For a complete hazard assessment, both of these ground motion parameters explaining the structural behavior should also be modeled. For the horizontal spectral acceleration, Abrahamson and Silva (2008) model was used within many available standard model. A new NGA vertical ground motion model consistent with the horizontal model was constructed. These models are combined in a vector probabilistic seismic hazard analyses. Series of hazard curves developed and presented for different locations in Bay Area for soil site conditions to provide a roadmap for the prediction of these features for future

This paper focuses on the problems that may occur with vertical pumps while inservice tests are conducted in accordance with existing American Society of Mechanical Engineers Code, Section XI, standards. The vertical pump types discussed include single stage, multistage, free surface, and canned mixed flow pumps. Primary emphasis is placed on the hydraulic performance of the pump and the internal and external factors to the pump that impact hydraulic performance. In addition, the paper considers the mechanical design features that can affect the mechanical performance of vertical pumps. The conclusion shows how two recommended changes in the Code standards may increase the quality of the pump's operational readiness assessment during its service life

Full Text Available This study explores how curvature in the quokka femur may help to reduce bending strain during locomotion. The quokka is a small wallaby, but the curvature of the femur and the muscles active during stance phase are similar to most quadrupedal mammals. Our hypothesis is that the action of hip extensor and ankle plantarflexor muscles during stance phase place cranial bending strains that act to reduce the caudal curvature of the femur. Knee extensors and biarticular muscles that span the femur longitudinally create caudal bending strains in the caudally curved (concave caudal side bone. These opposing strains can balance each other and result in less strain on the bone. We test this idea by comparing the performance of a normally curved finite element model of the quokka femur to a digitally straightened version of the same bone. The normally curved model is indeed less strained than the straightened version. To further examine the relationship between curvature and the strains in the femoral models, we also tested an extra-curved and a reverse-curved version with the same loads. There appears to be a linear relationship between the curvature and the strains experienced by the models. These results demonstrate that longitudinal curvature in bones may be a manipulable mechanism whereby bone can induce a strain gradient to oppose strains induced by habitual loading.

Full Text Available A rotary piezoelectric actuator using bolt-clamped type transducer with double driving feet is proposed in this study. The first-order longitudinal and fourth-order bending vibration modes are superimposed in the actuator to produce elliptical movements on the driving tips. Longitudinal PZT and bending PZT are clamped between the exponential shape horns and the flange by bolts. The vibration shape changes of the actuator are presented to give a clear explanation of its working principle. Several structural parameters of the exponential shape horn are selected and adjusted to accomplish the tuning process of the longitudinal and bending resonance frequencies. The input impedance and vibration characteristics are calculated by using FEM method; the gained results verify the feasibility of the proposed actuator. After the fabrication of a prototype, its vibration characteristics are measured by using a scanning laser Doppler vibrometer; the tested results are in good agreement with the FEM calculated results. The mechanical output performance experiments state that the prototype achieves a maximum speed of 129 r/min and a maximum torque of 1.5 Nm.

A novel high resolution, high flux bending magnet beamline with an energy range from 5 to 40 eV has been constructed at SRRC. This Dragon-like beamline, which horizontally collects 50 mrad of synchrotron radiation from a bending magnet source, uses four cylindrical gratings with an included angle of 140 deg. and a movable curved exit slit. The average photon flux with an energy resolving power of 1000 is about 2x10 sup 1 sup 2 photons/s, which is among the highest of all existing VUV bending magnet beamlines. An energy resolving power of 24,000 at 6.8 eV has been obtained from the Schumann-Runge bands (B sup 3 limit construction operator in a limit construction/sum L: summation operator operator End lower limit of a limit construction u lower limit End limit End sup - /leftarrow/gets A: =leftward arrow X sup 3 limit construction operator in a limit construction/sum L: summation operator operator End lower limit of a limit construction g lower limit End limit End sup -) absorption spectra of O sub 2 gas. A pho...

This article presents a missing-bending-magnet scheme for PEP as a modification that could be considered if PEP were available as a fully dedicated synchrotron radiation source. The scheme can be applied to one or more PEP sextants without changing the rest. By removing some bending magnets, rearranging the remaining magnets, and adding two quadrupoles, ten additional straight sections per sextant can be created, each 5 m or more in length, for insertion devices. Beam lines therefrom, plus possible beam lines from bending magnets would enter a continuous experimental hall instead of individual tunnels and halls for each beam line. This should result in construction cost savings and increased operations efficiency. The ideal beam orbit is unchanged at the two ends and the middle of the sextant. At the end of the curved part of the sextant the lattice functions match those of the long interaction region straight section in the low emittance configuration of PEP. The electron beam characteristics in the newly created straight sections are described, including the enlargement of the horizontal beam size due to the nonzero dispersion. Some disadvantages of the scheme are increased operations complexity due to the need for nine new quadrupole families, increased beam emittance (by 14.5% is one sextant is modified), and reduced dynamic aperture. However, the dynamic aperture is still about as large as the physical aperture and should be adequate for good beam lifetime and injection. (orig.)

The coupling of bending and torsion due to large blade bending are assumed to have some effects of the flutter limits of wind turbines. In the present report, the aeroelastic blade model suggested by Kallesoee, which is similar to a second order model, is used to investigate the aeroelastic stability limits of the RWT blade with and without the effects of the large blade deflection. The investigation shows no significant change of the flutter limit on the rotor speed due to the blade deflection,whereas the first edgewise bending mode becomes negatively damped due to the coupling with blade torsion which causes a change of the effective direction of blade vibration. These observations are confirmed by nonlinear aeroelastic simulations using HAWC2. This work is part of the UpWind project funded by the European Commission under the contract number SES6-CT-2005-019945 which is gratefully acknowledged. This report is the deliverable D2.3 of the UpWind project. (au)

Full Text Available Bent pipes are widely used in automotive, aviation, and aerospace industries for delivering fluids. Parts having small relative bending radiuses are called elbows. However, fabricating a thin-walled elbow part using the simple bending process poses many challenges. One possible way to manufacture elbows is with the stamping-welding process. The major drawbacks of this method include the decline in sealing performance and the addition in weight attributed to the lap welding process. Tube hydroforming (THF is considered as a feasible solution to these problems. However, the forming process could be quite complex, and multistep forming is necessary. This study investigates the effects of preliminary processes on elbow forming such as bending, partition forming, and heat treatment and presents a high-performance optimized process design to achieve an ultrasmall radius elbow. The effects of multistep forming on the thickness distribution and the heat treatment on the microstructure have been evaluated. The results obtained from simulations show a reasonable agreement with those from the experiments.

Field welding an I-section girder forms details having scallop at the web, whereas the presence of the scallop causes shear deformation and localized stress concentration. Therefore the details in joints with low fatigue strength are ranked as class G in the fatigue design guideline published by JSSC. With special notice on the effect of shear, the present study has varied the phase by using multiple number of jacks; so loaded that the direction of the shear force will change; assumed field welding of a bridge constructed with a few number of main girders; and verified fatigue strength at thick flange plates. In addition, in order to improve the fatigue strength, elucidation was given on the effect of grinder finish at boxing welds. From these results, items to be considered were made clear when structural details are designed and fabricated, in which I-section girders having scallop are welded in fields. Furthermore, it was considered that stress in web plate jointing welding bead becomes relatively higher than local stress in boxing, which was indicated as a point requiring precaution. 8 refs., 20 figs., 2 tabs.

NASA Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its navigation camera for the images assembled into this full-circle view of the rover's surroundings during the 1,802nd Martian day, or sol, (January 26, 2009) of Spirit's mission on the surface of Mars. North is at the top. This view is presented as a vertical projection with geometric seam correction. Spirit had driven down off the low plateau called 'Home Plate' on Sol 1782 (January 6, 2009) after spending 12 months on a north-facing slope on the northern edge of Home Plate. The position on the slope (at about the 9-o'clock position in this view) tilted Spirit's solar panels toward the sun, enabling the rover to generate enough electricity to survive its third Martian winter. Tracks at about the 11-o'clock position of this panorama can be seen leading back to that 'Winter Haven 3' site from the Sol 1802 position about 10 meters (33 feet) away. For scale, the distance between the parallel wheel tracks is about one meter (40 inches). Where the receding tracks bend to the left, a circular pattern resulted from Spirit turning in place at a soil target informally named 'Stapledon' after William Olaf Stapledon, a British philosopher and science-fiction author who lived from 1886 to 1950. Scientists on the rover team suspected that the soil in that area might have a high concentration of silica, resembling a high-silica soil patch discovered east of Home Plate in 2007. Bright material visible in the track furthest to the right was examined with Spirit's alpha partical X-ray spectrometer and found, indeed, to be rich in silica. The team laid plans to drive Spirit from this Sol 1802 location back up onto Home Plate, then southward for the rover's summer field season.

A vertical axis wind turbine airfoil is described. The wind turbine airfoil can include a leading edge, a trailing edge, an upper curved surface, a lower curved surface, and a centerline running between the upper surface and the lower surface and from the leading edge to the trailing edge. The airfoil can be configured so that the distance between the centerline and the upper surface is the same as the distance between the centerline and the lower surface at all points along the length of the airfoil. A plurality of such airfoils can be included in a vertical axis wind turbine. These airfoils can be vertically disposed and can rotate about a vertical axis.

We build a three-country model of international trade in final goods and intermediate inputs and study the relation between four different types of trade liberalisation and vertical integration. Firms are heterogeneous with respect to both productivity and factor (headquarter) intensity. Final......-good producers face decisions on exporting, vertical integration of intermediate-input production, and whether the intermediate-input production should be offshored to a low-wage country. We find that the fractions of final-good producers that pursue either vertical integration, offshoring, or exporting are all...... increasing when intermediate-input trade or final-goods trade is liberalised. Finally, we provide guidance for testing the open-economy property rights theory of the firm using firm-level data and surprisingly show that the relationship between factor (headquarter) intensity and the likelihood of vertical...

Full Text Available The applications of floating vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs in deep water have been proposed and studied by several researchers recently. However, the feasibility of deploying a floating VAWT at a moderate water depth has not yet been studied. In this paper, this feasibility is thoroughly addressed by comparing the dynamic responses of spar-type VAWTs in deep water and moderate water depth. A short spar VAWT supporting a 5 MW Darrieus rotor at moderate water depth is proposed by following the deep spar concept in deep water. A fully coupled simulation tool, SIMO-RIFLEX-DMS code, is utilized to carry out time domain simulations under turbulent wind and irregular waves. Dynamic responses of the short spar and deep spar VAWTs are analyzed and compared, including the natural periods, wind turbine performance, platform motions, tower base bending moments, and tension of mooring lines. The statistical characteristics of the thrust and power production for both spars are similar. The comparison of platform motions and tower base bending moments demonstrate a good agreement for both spars, but the short spar has better performance in surge/sway motions and side–side bending moments. The 2P response dominates the bending moment spectra for both spars. A significant variation in tension of Mooring Line 1 and a larger corresponding spectrum value are found in the short spar concept. The results indicate that the application of short spar VAWTs is feasible and could become an alternative concept at moderate water depth.

A far-infrared interferometer has been installed on TEXT upgrade to obtain electron density profiles. The primary system views the plasma vertically through a set of large (60-cm radialx7.62-cm toroidal) diagnostic ports. A 1-cm channel spacing (59 channels total) and fast electronic time response is used, to provide high resolution for radial profiles and perturbation experiments. Initial operation of the vertical system was obtained late in 1991, with six operating channels

When the direction of flattening of a carbon nanotube changes during growth mediated by a metal nanoparticle, a carbon nanotetrahedron is formed in the middle of the carbon nanoribbon. We report the bending properties of the carbon nanotetrahedron/nanoribbon structure using a micro-manipulator system in a transmission electron microscope. In many cases, bending occurs at an edge of the carbon nanotetrahedron. No significant change is observed in the tetrahedron's shape during bending, and the bending is reversible and repeatable. Our results show that the carbon nanotetrahedron/nanoribbon structure has good durability against mechanical bending.

Bending tubes are key products in many industries. The geometric parameters of the bending process are considered according to Taguchi's orthogonal array and then coupled with finite element simulation to predict and improve the formability of the tube bending process for copper JIS25A material. Three parameters, namely, mandrel diameter, distance between mandrel rings, and distance from the tip of the mandrel bar to the center of the base die, are selected to study their effects on the quality of the bending process. The variance analysis shows that the effect distribution of each parameter to bending quality is determined, and optimal conditions are adopted to conduct experiments.

The work presents an experimental method of understanding the force applied during a manual rebar bending process. The study tracks the force with the variation of the angle of bend and the elapsed time from the start to the end of a complete manual rebar bending process. A sample of expert rebar bending labourers are used for conducting the experiment and the data processed to set a performance standard. If a simulator based rebar bending training can be provided for a novice, this standard can be used as a matrix to define how close a novice rebar bender is closing to the expertise.

Transmission properties through sharp rectangular waveguide bends are investigated to determine the cut-off bending angles of the wave propagation. We show that a simple metallic diaphragm at the bending corner with properly devised sub-wavelength defect apertures of C-slits would be readily to turn on the transmissions with scarce reflections of the propagating modes, while preserving the integrity of the transmitting fields soon after the bends. In particularly, our design also demonstrates the capability of eliminating all the unwanted cavity resonant transmissions that exist in the three-dimensional cascade sharp waveguide bends, and solely let the desired signals travel along the whole passage of the waveguide. The present approach, using C-slit diaphragms to support the sharp bending behaviors of the guided waves with greatly enhanced transmissions, would be especially effective in constructing novel waveguides and pave the way for the development of more compact and miniaturized electromagnetic systems that exploit these waveguide bends.

Ion-optical designs of an isocentric ion gantry with a compact curved superconducting final bending magnet are presented. The gantry is designed for transporting carbon-therapy beams with nominal kinetic energy of 400 MeV/u, which corresponds to the penetration range of C"6"+ beam in water of about 28 cm. In contrast to other existing designs, we present a “hybrid” beam transport system containing a single superconducting element – the last bending magnet. All other elements are based on conventional warm technology. Ion-optical properties of such a hybrid system are investigated in case of transporting non-symmetric (i.e. different emittance patterns in the horizontal and vertical plane) beams. Different conditions for transporting the non-symmetric beams are analyzed aiming at finding the optimal, i.e. the most compact, gantry version. The final gantry layout is presented including a 2D parallel scanning. The ion-optical and scanning properties of the final gantry design are described, discussed and illustrated by computer simulations performed by WinAGILE.

Quasi-1D piezoelectric nanostructures may offer unprecedented sensitivity for transducing minuscule input mechanical forces into high output voltages due to both scaling laws and increased piezoelectric coefficients. However, until now both theoretical and experimental studies have suggested that, for a given mechanical force, lateral bending of piezoelectric nanowires results in lower output electric potentials than vertical compression. Here we demonstrate that this result only applies to nanostructures with a constant cross-section. Moreover, though it is commonly believed that the output electric potential of a strained piezo-semiconductive device can only be reduced by the presence of free charges, we show that the output piezopotential of laterally bent tapered nanostructures, with typical doping levels and very small input forces, can be even increased up to two times by free charges.Our analyses confirm that, though not optimal for piezoelectric energy harvesting, lateral bending of tapered nanostructures with typical doping levels can be ideal for transducing tiny input mechanical forces into high and accessible piezopotentials. Our results provide guidelines for designing high-performance piezo-nano-devices for energy harvesting, mechanical sensing, piezotronics, piezo-phototronics, and piezo-controlled chemical reactions, among others.

Quasi-1D piezoelectric nanostructures may offer unprecedented sensitivity for transducing minuscule input mechanical forces into high output voltages due to both scaling laws and increased piezoelectric coefficients. However, until now both theoretical and experimental studies have suggested that, for a given mechanical force, lateral bending of piezoelectric nanowires results in lower output electric potentials than vertical compression. Here we demonstrate that this result only applies to nanostructures with a constant cross-section. Moreover, though it is commonly believed that the output electric potential of a strained piezo-semiconductive device can only be reduced by the presence of free charges, we show that the output piezopotential of laterally bent tapered nanostructures, with typical doping levels and very small input forces, can be even increased up to two times by free charges. Our analyses confirm that, though not optimal for piezoelectric energy harvesting, lateral bending of tapered nanostructures with typical doping levels can be ideal for transducing tiny input mechanical forces into high and accessible piezopotentials. Our results provide guidelines for designing high-performance piezo-nano-devices for energy harvesting, mechanical sensing, piezotronics, piezo-phototronics, and piezo-controlled chemical reactions, among others. (paper)

The second-degree nonlinear aeroelastic equations of motion for a slender, flexible, nonuniform, Darrieus vertical-axis wind turbine blade which is undergoing combined flatwise bending, edgewise bending, torsion, and extension are developed using Hamilton's principle. The blade aerodynamic loading is obtained from strip theory based on a quasi-steady approximation of two-dimensional incompressible unsteady airfoil theory. The derivation of the equations has its basis in the geometric nonlinear theory of elasticity and the resulting equations are consistent with the small deformation approximation in which the elongations and shears are negligible compared to unity. These equations are suitable for studying vibrations, static and dynamic aeroelastic instabilities, and dynamic response. Several possible methods of solution of the equations, which have periodic coefficients, are discussed.

Bending tests were conducted on U-notched specimens cut from a YBCO bulk superconductor. Acoustic emission (AE) signals obtained under loading parallel or perpendicular to the c-axis were analyzed to investigate the correlation between crack growth behavior and the AE signals. As a result of analyzing log-log plots of strength (σ B ) versus total AE energy (ΣE AE ), a linear relationship was found between ΣE AE and σ B n . Cracks could be broadly divided into two types based on the value of n as an index of crack growth behavior. One type consisted of microcracks originating from cleavage planes and gas holes; these crack propagated parallel to the c-axis and had an n index value of approximately 0.7. The other type was a main crack that originated from the U-notch and had an n index value of approximately 6.5. A sample (A) loaded parallel to the c-axis showed mean bending strength of 74.8MPa. Cracks displaying two different growth patterns of n=0.7 and 6.5 were presented in this sample. Microcracks parallel to the c-axis occurred in the vicinity of 5-10MPa. This sample was characterized by mixed crack growth of a main crack and microcracks. A sample (B) loaded perpendicular to the c-axis displayed mean bending strength of 43MPa. A main crack occurred in the vicinity of 20MPa and displayed a single growth pattern of n=6.5. By analyzing AE signals in this way in the process of conducting a strength evaluation, it was possible to evaluate the failure process of the bulk superconductor in relation to the strength level induced by the applied load

The purpose of this map is to provide the National Park Service and the public with an updated digital geologic map of Big Bend National Park (BBNP). The geologic map report of Maxwell and others (1967) provides a fully comprehensive account of the important volcanic, structural, geomorphological, and paleontological features that define BBNP. However, the map is on a geographically distorted planimetric base and lacks topography, which has caused difficulty in conducting GIS-based data analyses and georeferencing the many geologic features investigated and depicted on the map. In addition, the map is outdated, excluding significant data from numerous studies that have been carried out since its publication more than 40 years ago. This report includes a modern digital geologic map that can be utilized with standard GIS applications to aid BBNP researchers in geologic data analysis, natural resource and ecosystem management, monitoring, assessment, inventory activities, and educational and recreational uses. The digital map incorporates new data, many revisions, and greater detail than the original map. Although some geologic issues remain unresolved for BBNP, the updated map serves as a foundation for addressing those issues. Funding for the Big Bend National Park geologic map was provided by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program and the National Park Service. The Big Bend mapping project was administered by staff in the USGS Geology and Environmental Change Science Center, Denver, Colo. Members of the USGS Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center completed investigations in parallel with the geologic mapping project. Results of these investigations addressed some significant current issues in BBNP and the U.S.-Mexico border region, including contaminants and human health, ecosystems, and water resources. Funding for the high-resolution aeromagnetic survey in BBNP, and associated data analyses and

A special Bending-Under-Tension (BUT) transducer has been developed in which friction around the tool radius can be directly measured when drawing a plane sheet strip around a cylindrical tool-pin under constant back tension. The front tension, back tension and torque on the tool-pin are all...... measured directly, thus enabling accurate measurement of friction and direct determination of lubricant film breakdown for varying normal pressure, sliding speed, tool radius and tool preheat temperature. The transducer is applied in an experimental investigation focusing on limits of lubrication...

Mixed alloys for dental amalgams have been used mainly in the form of admixed alloys, where eutectic spheres are blend with conventional flakes. In the present study the compressive strength, bend strength and microstructure of two high-copper alloys (Tytin, Ana-2000) is compared with three experimental alloys prepared of the two high copper by mixing them in proportions of 3:1, 1:1 and 1:3 by weight. The results revealed that experimental alloys inherited high early and final strength values without any significant change in their microstructure.

Preliminary investigations have shown that acoustic emission has promising aspects as an online monitoring technique for assessment of tribological conditions during metal forming as regards to determination of the onset of galling. In the present study the acoustic emission measuring technique h...... in BUT testing has been found to describe the frictional conditions during forming well and to allow for accurate assessment of the limits of lubrication....... been applied for online monitoring of the frictional conditions experienced during Bending Under Tension (BUT) testing. The BUT test emulates the forming conditions experienced when drawing sheet material over a die curvature as in deep drawing processes. Monitoring of the developed acoustic emission...

Cooling lattices consisting only of bends (using either rotated pole faces or gradient dipoles to achieve focusing) often require large apertures and short magnets. One expects the effect of end fields to be significant in this case. In this paper we explore the effect of adding end fields to a working lattice design that originally lacked them. The paper describes the process of correcting the lattice design for the added end fields so as to maintain desirable lattice characteristics. It then compares the properties of the lattice with end fields relative to the lattice without them

An interpretation is presented of bridge bending in head-tail radio sources in the framework of an electromagnetic beam model. The physical effect responsible for the structural distortion is proposed to be the refraction of a large-amplitude wave in a medium with a density gradient perpendicular to the wave propagation vector; this gradient is consistently produced by the relative motion of the beam source in the surrounding medium with a velocity higher than the speed of sound. These effects are calculated in some detail and a quantitative fit of model parameters to the typical radio source associated with NGC 1265 is discussed.

The world and Russian companies have a long experience of the polyethylene pipeline installation and operation. At the same time, the significant attention is paid to the improvement of the relevant machines and the production technology. The polyethylene pipeline installation experience proves that its operation properties (reliability and durability) depend on physical and mechanical characteristics of polyethylene, which should be saved during its installation. Defects can occur, including in cases when the pipe is subjected to the significant bending stresses during installation. To evaluate these stresses, including when exposed to cold weather conditions, an indirect method based on the relationship between strength characteristics and occurred deformations is proposed.

Bending of the seemingly stiff DNA double helix is a fundamental physical process for any living organism. Specialized proteins recognize DNA inducing and stabilizing sharp curvatures of the double helix. However, experimental evidence suggests a high protein-independent flexibility of DNA. On the basis of coarse-grained simulations, we propose that DNA experiences thermally induced kinks associated with the spontaneous formation of internal bubbles. Comparison of the protein-induced DNA curvature calculated from the Protein Data Bank with that sampled by our simulations suggests that thermally induced distortions can account for ˜80% of the DNA curvature present in experimentally solved structures.

Described is the approximation and differentiation technique for loading-deformation charts being used to determine the bending strength of ceramics with provision for the nonlinearity of the deformation charts and differences in mechanical behaviuor of material during tension and compression. A relation between the strength calculation accuracy and experimental data reading errors has been established for such ceramic mateirals as Al 2 O 3 +15 % ZrSiO 4 , Y 2 O 3 +2.8% Al, etc. The negligence of the found aspects of mechanical material behaviuor was shown to result in errors two or three times higher than those introduced by the experiment results processing method

An interpretation is presented of bridge bending in head-tail radio sources in the framework of an electromagnetic beam model. The physical effect responsible for the structural distortion is proposed to be the refraction of a large-amplitude wave in a medium with a density gradient perpendicular to the wave propagation vector; this gradient is consistently produced by the relative motion of the beam source in the surrounding medium with a velocity higher than the speed of sound. These effects are calculated in some detail and a quantitative fit of model parameters to the typical radio source associated with NGC 1265 is discussed. (author)

A research program to explore the phenomenon of emittance growth in bends due to noninertial space-charge effects has been defined and initiated. The program combines theoretical, numerical, and experimental investigations. This paper summarizes the motivation of the work and highlights CEBAF close-quote s need for immediate results. The program close-quote s key elements, some of which qualitatively differ from the standard approach used to investigate the production and effects of coherent synchrotron radiation in synchrotrons and storage rings, are enumerated and discussed. copyright 1996 American Institute of Physics

In late 1977, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) proposed to build a 2 unit nuclear plant at Phipps Bend on the Holston River east of Surgoinsville, Tennessee. Total estimated cost is 1.6 billion dollars, with a generating capacity of 2,600,000 kilowatts. The facility will have an impact on Hawkins, Greene and Sullivan counties with 2,500 construction employees, a permanent work force of 300, increased availability of energy to stimulate new capital investment and the local government will need to deal with these. This report analyzed the facilities of each community in the impacted area and recommended certain action for infrastructure acquisition or improvements

Short term bending tests with end-notched beams at constant or varying moisture content have shown an apparent contradictory dependency between moisture content and strength. The higher the moisture content the higher the strength. Varying moisture results in particularly significant differences...... and by neglecting deformation due to shear. Compression stresses perpendicular to grain in excess of 6 MPa were found in the vicinity of the notch following a period of adsorption. Similarly, small tension stresses of the order 1 MPa were registered in this area when the specimens were at their most dry condition...

Bending of the seemingly stiff DNA double helix is a fundamental physical process for any living organism. Specialized proteins recognize DNA inducing and stabilizing sharp curvatures of the double helix. However, experimental evidence suggests a high protein-independent flexibility of DNA. On the basis of coarse-grained simulations, we propose that DNA experiences thermally induced kinks associated with the spontaneous formation of internal bubbles. Comparison of the protein-induced DNA curvature calculated from the Protein Data Bank with that sampled by our simulations suggests that thermally induced distortions can account for ~80% of the DNA curvature present in experimentally solved structures.

A slow-extracted proton beam from the SPS goes to the underground target zone TCC2. The part of the primary beam which traverses target T4 is recuperated and transported over some 800 m, for further use in the North Area High Intensity facility (NAHIF). The curved and sloped trajectory required 4 of the bending magnets to be tilted. Here we see one of them being attended by Gilbert Françon in hall 867, ready for installation in TCC2.

The partial cancellation between the effect of centrifugal space charge force on transverse bunch dynamics and the potential energy effect has been a long-standing controversial issue in the study of coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR) induced bunch dynamics in bends. In this paper, we clarify our definition of the ''centrifugal space charge force,'' and discuss the meaning of the ''cancellation effect'' and its general application. We further use simulation to demonstrate the cancellation in both steady state and transient regimes, and show the behavior of the effective transverse force

A design to reduce the rate of tube failure in high pressure feedwater heaters, a number of failed drawn and stress relieved Monel 400 U-bend tubes removed from three high pressure feedwater heaters was examined. Steam extracted from the turbine is used to preheat the boiler feedwater in fossil fuel fired steam plants to improve thermal efficiency. This is accomplished in a series of heaters between the condenser hot well and the boiler. The heaters closest to the boiler handle water at high pressure and temperature. Because of the severe service conditions, high pressure feedwater heaters are frequently tubed with drawn and stress relieved Monel 400.

chlorophyll maxima (DCM) to be a general feature in the ocean. Today, it is generally accepted that DCMs occur in most of our oceans still, despite this empirical knowledge, subsurface primary production is still largely ignored in marine science. The work included in this PhD examines the vertical...... each of the three regions combined with 15 years of survey data for the Baltic Sea transition zone. Overall, the results of this PhD work show that the vertical distribution of phytoplankton and their activity is important for the understanding, dynamics and functioning of pelagic ecosystems. It, thus......, emphasizes that future research and modelling exercises aimed at improving understanding of pelagic ecosystems and their role in the global ocean should include a consideration of the vertical heterogeneity in phytoplankton distributions and activity....

Patellar dislocations occurring about the vertical and horizontal axis are rare and irreducible. The neglected patellar dislocation is still rarer. We describe the clinical presentation and management of a case of neglected vertical patellar dislocation in a 6 year-old boy who sustained an external rotational strain with a laterally directed force to his knee. Initially the diagnosis was missed and 2 months later open reduction was done. The increased tension generated by the rotation of the lateral extensor retinaculum kept the patella locked in the lateral gutter even with the knee in full extension. Traumatic patellar dislocation with rotation around a vertical axis has been described earlier, but no such neglected case has been reported to the best of our knowledge. PMID:23162154

Full Text Available Patellar dislocations occurring about the vertical and horizontal axis are rare and irreducible. The neglected patellar dislocation is still rarer. We describe the clinical presentation and management of a case of neglected vertical patellar dislocation in a 6 year-old boy who sustained an external rotational strain with a laterally directed force to his knee. Initially the diagnosis was missed and 2 months later open reduction was done. The increased tension generated by the rotation of the lateral extensor retinaculum kept the patella locked in the lateral gutter even with the knee in full extension. Traumatic patellar dislocation with rotation around a vertical axis has been described earlier, but no such neglected case has been reported to the best of our knowledge.

AAER Inc. is a Quebec-based company that manufactures turbines using proven European designs. This presentation discussed the company's business model. The company places an emphasis on identifying strategic and key components currently available for its turbines. Market analyses are performed in order to determine ideal suppliers and define business strategies and needs. The company invests in long-term relationships with its suppliers. Business partners for AAER are of a similar size and have a mutual understanding and respect for the company's business practices. Long-term agreements with suppliers are signed in order to ensure reliability and control over costs. Progressive vertical integration has been achieved by progressively manufacturing key components and integrating a North American supply chain. The company's secure supply chain and progressive vertical integration has significantly reduced financial costs and provided better quality control. It was concluded that vertical integration has also allowed AAER to provide better customer service and reduce transportation costs. tabs., figs

Bending is a primary loading experienced by pipelines during installation and operation. Significant bending in the presence of tension is experienced during installation by the S-lay method, as the pipe conforms to the curvature of the stinger and beyond in the over bend region. Bending in the presence of external pressure is experienced in the sag bend of all major installation methods (e.g., reeling, J-lay, S-lay) as well as in free-spans on the sea floor. Bending is also experienced by pipelines during installation by horizontal directional drilling. HDD procedures are increasingly being utilized around the world not only for crossings of rivers and other obstacles but also for shore approach of offshore pipelines. During installation the pipeline experience a combination of tensile, bending, and compressive stresses. The magnitude of these stresses is a function of the approach angle, bending radius, pipe diameter, length of the borehole, and the soil properties at the site. The objective of this paper is to present an overview of some aspects related to bending of the product pipe during HDD operations, which is closely related to the borehole path as the pipeline conforms to the curvature of the hole. An overview of the aspects related to tensile forces is also presented. The combined effect of bending and tensile forces during the pullback operation is discussed. (author)

Highlights: • MHD flows in rectangular U bends have been investigated under specific magnetic field. • U bends analyzed with different aspect ratio, distance of U bends and the wall conductance ratio. • Pressure optimization of rectangular U bends at corner region. • Studying different inclination of magnetic field cases according to original MHD flows. - Abstract: Liquid metal flow in rectangular bends is a common phenomenon of fusion liquid metal blanket operation, in which the velocity distributions and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) pressure drop are considered as critical issues. Previous studies mainly aimed at specific fixed geometry for bend flows in LM blanket. The present investigation focuses on numerical analysis of MHD flow in 3D rectangular bends at laminar conditions, which is aimed to reduce MHD pressure drop caused by electromagnetic coupling in conductive flow, especially in bend corner region. The used code has been developed by University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and validated by recommended benchmark cases such as Shercliff, ALEX experiments and KIT experiment cases, etc. In order to search the optimal duct bending, certain parameters such as different aspect ratio of the duct corner area cross-section, distance of import and export from the elbow and wall conductance ratio have been considered to investigate the pressure drop of MHD flow. Moreover, the effects of different magnetic field direction relative to flow distribution between bends have also been analyzed.

Highlights: • MHD flows in rectangular U bends have been investigated under specific magnetic field. • U bends analyzed with different aspect ratio, distance of U bends and the wall conductance ratio. • Pressure optimization of rectangular U bends at corner region. • Studying different inclination of magnetic field cases according to original MHD flows. - Abstract: Liquid metal flow in rectangular bends is a common phenomenon of fusion liquid metal blanket operation, in which the velocity distributions and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) pressure drop are considered as critical issues. Previous studies mainly aimed at specific fixed geometry for bend flows in LM blanket. The present investigation focuses on numerical analysis of MHD flow in 3D rectangular bends at laminar conditions, which is aimed to reduce MHD pressure drop caused by electromagnetic coupling in conductive flow, especially in bend corner region. The used code has been developed by University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and validated by recommended benchmark cases such as Shercliff, ALEX experiments and KIT experiment cases, etc. In order to search the optimal duct bending, certain parameters such as different aspect ratio of the duct corner area cross-section, distance of import and export from the elbow and wall conductance ratio have been considered to investigate the pressure drop of MHD flow. Moreover, the effects of different magnetic field direction relative to flow distribution between bends have also been analyzed.

Full Text Available As part of an investigation on the performance of integral abutment bridges, a single-span, integral abutment, prestressed concrete girder bridge near Perry, Utah was instrumented for live-load testing. The live-load test included driving trucks at 2.24 m/s (5 mph along predetermined load paths and measuring the corresponding strain and deflection. The measured data was used to validate a finite-element model (FEM of the bridge. The model showed that the integral abutments were behaving as 94% of a fixed-fixed support. Live-load distribution factors were obtained using this validated model and compared to those calculated in accordance to recommended procedures provided in the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications (2010. The results indicated that if the bridge was considered simply supported, the AASHTO LRFD Specification distribution factors were conservative (in comparison to the FEM results. These conservative distribution factors, along with the initial simply supported design assumption resulted in a very conservative bridge design. In addition, a parametric study was conducted by modifying various bridge properties of the validated bridge model, one at a time, in order to investigate the influence that individual changes in span length, deck thickness, edge distance, skew, and fixity had on live-load distribution. The results showed that the bridge properties with the largest influence on bridge live-load distribution were fixity, skew, and changes in edge distance.

The present invention provides a light source (2) for light circuits on a silicon platform (3). A vertical laser cavity is formed by a gain region (101) arranged between a top mirror (4) and a bottom grating-mirror (12) in a grating region (11) in a silicon layer (10) on a substrate. A waveguide...... (18, 19) for receiving light from the grating region (11) is formed within or to be connected to the grating region, and functions as an 5 output coupler for the VCL. Thereby, vertical lasing modes (16) are coupled to lateral in-plane modes (17, 20) of the in-plane waveguide formed in the silicon...

In this paper, we describe our research on bio-inspired locomotion systems using deformable structures and smart materials, concretely shape memory alloys (SMAs). These types of materials allow us to explore the possibility of building motor-less and gear-less robots. A swimming underwater fish-like robot has been developed whose movements are generated using SMAs. These actuators are suitable for bending the continuous backbone of the fish, which in turn causes a change in the curvature of the body. This type of structural arrangement is inspired by fish red muscles, which are mainly recruited during steady swimming for the bending of a flexible but nearly incompressible structure such as the fishbone. This paper reviews the design process of these bio-inspired structures, from the motivations and physiological inspiration to the mechatronics design, control and simulations, leading to actual experimental trials and results. The focus of this work is to present the mechanisms by which standard swimming patterns can be reproduced with the proposed design. Moreover, the performance of the SMA-based actuators' control in terms of actuation speed and position accuracy is also addressed.

Vibration related issues like flutter pose a serious challenge to aircraft engine designers. The phenomenon has gained relevance for modern engines that employ thin and long fan blade rows to satisfy the growing need for compact and powerful engines. The tip regions of such blade rows operate with transonic relative flow velocities, and are susceptible to bending mode flutter. In such cases, the flow field around individual blades of the cascade is dominated by shock motions generated by the blade motions. In the present work, a new transonic linear cascade facility with the ability to oscillate a blade at realistic reduced frequencies has been developed. The facility operates at a Mach number of 1.3, with the central blade being oscillated in heave corresponding to the bending mode of the rotor. The susceptibility of the blade to undergo flutter at different reduced frequencies is quantified by the cycle-averaged power transfer to the blade calculated using the measured unsteady load on the oscillating blade. These measurements show fluid excitation (flutter) at low reduced frequencies and fluid damping (no flutter) at higher reduced frequencies. Simultaneous measurements of the unsteady shock motions are done with high speed shadowgraphy to elucidate the differences in shock motions between the excitation and damping cases.

This book, now in a revised and updated second edition, explains the theory of special and general relativity in detail without approaching Einstein's life or the historical background. The text is formulated in such a way that the reader will be able to understand the essence intuitively, and new sections have been added on time machines, the twin paradoxes, and tensors. The first part of the book focuses on the essentials of special relativity. It explains the famous equivalence between mass and energy and tells why Einstein was able to use the theory of electrodynamics as a template for his "electrodynamics of moving bodies". General relativity is then addressed, mainly with the help of thought experiments. Reference is made to the previously introduced special relativity and the equivalence principle and, using many figures, it is explained how space-time is bending under gravity. The climax of the book is the Einstein equation of gravity, which describes the way in which matter bends space-time. The read...

The charge state of {sup 238}U beams with maximum intensity was 79+ among multi-charge states of 70+ to 89+, which were estimated by using LISE++ code. The bending section consists of twenty four quadrupoles, two dipoles, two two-cell type superconducting RF cavities and eleven slits. The complicated radiation environment is caused by the beam losses occurred normally during the stripping process and when the produced {sup 238}U beams are transported along the beam line. Secondary radiations generated by {sup 238}U beams irradiation are very important for predicting the prompt and residual doses and the radiation damage at the component. The production characteristics of neutron and photon from thin carbon and thick iron were studied to set up the shielding strategy. The dose estimation was done to the pre-designed the tunnel structure. In these calculations, major Monte Carlo codes, PHITS and FLUKA, were used. The present study provided information of shielding analysis for the 90 .deg. bending section of RISP facility. The source term was evaluated to determine fundamental parameter of the shielding analysis using PHITS and FLUKA codes. And the distribution of the dose rate at the outside of thick shielding wall was presented.

A simple beam element used at Bell Helicopter was incorporated in the Computational Mechanics Testbed (COMET) finite element code at the Langley Research Center (LaRC) to analyze the responce of tappered laminates typical of flexbeams in composite rotor hubs. This beam element incorporated the influence of membrane loads on the flexural response of the tapered laminate configurations modeled and tested in a combined axial tension and bending (ATB) hydraulic load frame designed and built at LaRC. The moments generated from the finite element model were used in a tapered laminated plate theory analysis to estimate axial stresses on the surface of the tapered laminates due to combined bending and tension loads. Surfaces strains were calculated and compared to surface strains measured using strain gages mounted along the laminate length. The strain distributions correlated reasonably well with the analysis. The analysis was then used to examine the surface strain distribution in a non-linear tapered laminate where a similarly good correlation was obtained. Results indicate that simple finite element beam models may be used to identify tapered laminate configurations best suited for simulating the response of a composite flexbeam in a full scale rotor hub.

Careful examination of light paths in an accelerated reference frame, with use of Special Relativity, can account fully for the observed bending of light in a gravitational field, not just half of it as reported in 1911. This analysis also leads to a Machian formulation of inertia similar to the one proposed by Einstein in 1912 and later derived from gravitational field equations in Minkowsky Space by Sciama in 1953. There is a clear inference from equivalence that there is some type of inertial mass increase in a gravitational field. It is the purpose of the current paper to suggest that equivalence provides a more complete picture of gravitational effects than previously thought, correctly predicting full light bending, and that since the theory of inertia is derivable from equivalence, any theory based on equivalence must take account of it. Einstein himself clearly was not satisfied with the status of inertia in GRT, as our quotes have shown. Many have tried to account for inertia and met with less than success, for example Davidson s integration of Sciama s inertia into GRT but only for a steady state cosmology [10], and the Machian gravity theory of Brans and Dicke [11]. Yet Mach s idea hasn t gone away, and now it seems that it cannot go away without also disposing of equivalence.

A plastic fracture mechanics methodology is presented for part-through cracks in pipes under bending. A previous analysis result on the behavior of part-through cracks in pipes is reviewed. Example quantitative results for the initiation and instability of radial growth of part-through cracks are presented and compared with the experimental data to demonstrate the applicability of the method. The analyses in our previous work are further developed to include the instability of circumferential growth of part-through cracks. Numerical results are then presented for a compliant piping system, under displacement controlled bending, which focus on (1) instability of radial growth (unstable wall breakthrough) and (2) instability of circumferential growth of the resulting throughthe-thickness crack. The combined results of the above two types of analyses are presented on a safety assessment diagram. This diagram defines a curve of critical combination of length and depth of part-through cracks which delineates leak from fracture. The effect of piping compliance on the leak-before-break assessment is discussed

A plastic fracture mechanics methodology is presented for part-through cracks in pipes under bending. A previous analysis result on the behavior of part-through cracks in pipes is reviewed. Example quantitative results for the initiation and instability of radial growth of part-through cracks are presented and compared with the experimental data to demonstrate the applicability of the method. The analyses in our previous work are further developed to include the instability of circumferential growth of part-through cracks. Numerical results are then presented for a compliant piping system, under displacement controlled bending, which focus on (1) instability of radial growth (unstable wall breakthrough) and (2) instability of circumferential growth of the resulting throughthe-thickness crack. The combined results of the above two types of analyses are presented on a safety assessment diagram. This diagram defines a curve of critical combination of length and depth of part-through cracks which delineates leak from fracture. The effect of piping compliance on the leak-before-break assessment is discussed.

In this paper, we describe our research on bio-inspired locomotion systems using deformable structures and smart materials, concretely shape memory alloys (SMAs). These types of materials allow us to explore the possibility of building motor-less and gear-less robots. A swimming underwater fish-like robot has been developed whose movements are generated using SMAs. These actuators are suitable for bending the continuous backbone of the fish, which in turn causes a change in the curvature of the body. This type of structural arrangement is inspired by fish red muscles, which are mainly recruited during steady swimming for the bending of a flexible but nearly incompressible structure such as the fishbone. This paper reviews the design process of these bio-inspired structures, from the motivations and physiological inspiration to the mechatronics design, control and simulations, leading to actual experimental trials and results. The focus of this work is to present the mechanisms by which standard swimming patterns can be reproduced with the proposed design. Moreover, the performance of the SMA-based actuators' control in terms of actuation speed and position accuracy is also addressed.

The electron beam in a free-electron laser (FEL) can act as an optical fiber, guiding or bending the optical beam. The refractive and gain effects of the bunched electron beam can compensate for diffraction, making possible wigglers that are many Rayleigh ranges (i.e., characteristic diffraction lengths) long. The origin of optical guiding can be understood by examining gain and refractive guiding in a fiber with a complex index of refraction, providing a mathematical description applicable also to the FEL, with some extensions. In the exponential gain regime of the FEL, the electron equations of motion must be included, but a self-consistent description of exponential gain with diffraction fully included becomes possible. The origin of the effective index of refraction of an FEL is illustrated with a simple example of bunched, radiating dipoles. Some of the properties of the index of refraction are described. The limited experimental evidence for optical beam bending is summarized. The evidence does not yet provide conclusive proof of the existence of optical guiding, but supports the idea. Finally, the importance of refractive guiding for the performance of a high-gain tapered-wiggler FEL amplifier is illustrated with numerical simulations

The polarization induced by the strain gradient, i.e. the flexoelectric effect, has been observed in a micromachined Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 (PZT) diaphragms. Applying air pressure to bend a flat diaphragm which initially does not exhibit any electromechanical coupling can induce a resonance peak in its impedance spectrum. This result supposes that bending, thus the strain gradient in the diaphragm causes polarization in PZT film. We also investigated the switching behaviors of the polarization in response to an external electric field in a bent diaphragm and further quantified the polarization induced by the strain gradient. The effective flexoelectric coefficient of the PZT film has been calculated as large as 2.0 × 10−4 C/m. A giant flexoelectric polarization of the order of 1 μC/cm2 was characterized which is of the same order of magnitude as the normal remnant ferroelectric polarization of PZT film. The suggested explanation for the giant polarization is the large strain gradient in the diaphragm and the strain gradient induced reorientation of the polar nanodomains.

Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (sCO2) is investigated as working fluid for power generation in thermal solar, fossil energy and nuclear power plants at high pressures. Severe erosion has been observed in the sCO2 test loops, particularly in nozzles, turbine blades and pipe bends. It is hypothesized that complex flow features such as flow separation and property variations may lead to large oscillations in the wall shear stresses and result in material erosion. In this work, large eddy simulations are conducted at different Reynolds numbers (5000, 27,000 and 50,000) to investigate the effect of heat transfer in a 90 degree bend pipe with unit radius of curvature in order to identify the potential causes of the erosion. The simulation is first performed without heat transfer to validate the flow solver against available experimental and computational studies. Mean flow statistics, turbulent kinetic energy, shear stresses and wall force spectra are computed and compared with available experimental data. Formation of counter-rotating vortices, named Dean vortices, are observed. Secondary flow pattern and swirling-switching flow motions are identified and visualized. Effects of heat transfer on these flow phenomena are then investigated by applying a constant heat flux at the wall. DOE Fossil Energy Crosscutting Technology Research Program.

Bending pre-designed flat sheets into three-dimensional (3D) structures is attracting much interest, as it provides a simple approach to make 3D devices. Here we report controlled bending and folding of a bilayer structure consisting of a heat shrinkable polymer sheet and a thin stiff film (not thermally responsive). Upon heating, the prestrained polymer sheet shrinks, leading to bending or folding of the bilayer. We studied the effect of relative dimensions of the two layers on the bending behavior and demonstrated the transition from longitudinal bending to transverse bending of the bilayer strip. Transverse bending was utilized to fold origami structures, including several flat letters, a crane, and a corrugated metal sheet via Miura-ori folding. We developed a method to further control the bending orientation based on bio-inspired anisotropic bending stiffness. By bending the metal foil in different orientations, several structures were obtained, including cylindrical surfaces and left-handed/right-handed helical structures.

In order to be used successfully in fusion magnets, Nb 3 Sn conductors must meet several mechanical strain criteria, including tolerance to bending strains encountered during magnet construction. Since Nb 3 Sn is extremely brittle much information has been generated regarding the sensitivity of these conductros to tensile strain. A recent comparison of critical current-bend and tensile test data indicates that the strain required to initiate compound cracking during bending is significantly less than the strain required to do so by tensile of critical current on bending strains in monofilamentary Nb 3 Sn wires is calculated and compared with experimental data. The calculation takes into account a shift in the composite's neutral axis which occurs during bending. The analysis correctly predicts the observed depdndence of the critical current on bending strains

Full Text Available Mechanical properties of composite materials are conditioned by their structure and depend on the characteristics of structural components. In this paper is presented a numerical model by which the bending properties can be predicted on the basis of known mechanical properties of tension and pressure. Determining the relationship between these properties is justified having in mind the mechanics of fracture during bending, where the fracture takes place on the outer layer which is subjected to bending while the break ends on the layer subjected to pressure. The paper gives the values of tension, pressure and bending properties obtained by the corresponding mechanical test. A comparison of the numerical results of bending properties obtained on the basis of the model with the experimental ones, shows their satisfactory agreement. Therefore, this model can be used for some future research to predict bending properties without experiments.

Laser bending is a process of bending of plates, small sized sheets, strips and tubes, in which a moving or stationary laser beam heats the workpiece to achieve the desired curvature due to thermal stresses. Researchers studied the effects of different process parameters related to the laser source, material and workpiece geometry on laser bending of metal sheets. The studies are focused on large sized sheets. The workpiece geometry parameters like sheet thickness, length and width also affect the bend angle considerably. In this work, the effects of width and thickness on multi-pass laser bending of AH36 steel strips were studied experimentally and numerically. Finite element model using ABAQUS® was developed to investigate the size effect on the prediction of the bend angle. Microhardness and flexure tests showed an increase in the flexural strength as well as microhardness in the scanned zone. The microstructures of the bent strips also supported the physical observations.

We propose and demonstrate a technique for monitoring the recovery deformation of the shape-memory polymers (SMP) using a surface-attached fiber Bragg grating (FBG) as a vector-bending sensor. The proposed sensing scheme could monitor the pure bending deformation for the SMP sample. When the SMP sample undergoes concave or convex bending, the resonance wavelength of the FBG will have red-shift or blue-shift according to the tensile or compressive stress gradient along the FBG. As the results show, the bending sensitivity is around 4.07 nm/cm-1. The experimental results clearly indicate that the deformation of such an SMP sample can be effectively monitored by the attached FBG not just for the bending curvature but also the bending direction.

In recent years ultrasonic seaming that is shown as an alternative method to conventional seaming has been investigated by many researchers. In our study, bending behaviour of this alternative method is examined by changing various parameters such as fabric type, seam type, roller type and seaming velocity. For this purpose fifteen types of sewn fabrics were tested according to bending rigidity test standard before and after washing processes and results were evaluated through SPSS statistical analyze programme. Consequently, bending length values of the ultrasonically sewn fabrics are found to be higher than the bending length values of conventionally sewn fabrics and the effects of seam type on bending length are seen statistically significant. Also it is observed that bending length values are in relationship with the rest of the parameters excluding roller type.

Full Text Available The present paper makes an attempt to depict the effect of ovality in the inlet pigtail pipe bend of a reformer under combined internal pressure and in-plane bending. Finite element analysis (FEA and experiments have been used. An incoloy Ni-Fe-Cr B407 alloy material was considered for study and assumed to be elastic-perfectly plastic in behavior. The design of pipe bend is based on ASME B31.3 standard and during manufacturing process, it is challenging to avoid thickening on the inner radius and thinning on the outer radius of pipe bend. This geometrical shape imperfection is known as ovality and its effect needs investigation which is considered for the study. The finite element analysis (ANSYS-workbench results showed that ovality affects the load carrying capacity of the pipe bend and it was varying with bend factor (h. By data fitting of finite element results, an empirical formula for the limit load of inlet pigtail pipe bend with ovality has been proposed, which is validated by experiments.

The investigation conducted at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant to determine and correct increasing vibrations in the vertical reactor coolant pumps is described. Diagnostic procedures to determine the vibration causes and evaluate the corractive measures taken are also described

The states of stress distribution in mitred bend subjected to inplane uniform bending moment have been studied systematically by means of photoelastic stress freezing method. The relations between the stress concentration factor of fiber stress σsub(l) and of hoop stress σsub(theta) near the bent part and the angle of mitred bend are thoroughly investigated. The effects of fillet radius of the bent-part and wall thickness on the stress concentration factors are also discussed. (author)

A large set of numerical data was obtained using a program recently developed. From the various results achieved, new analytical expressions for the definition of damage and plasticity criteria are being derived. The importance of taking into account the presence of general bending was highlighted. The extension to 3D bending, of the previous global models for reinforced concrete beams under combined axial force and bending, is under development. (author)

Full Text Available An intelligent regression technique is applied for sheet metal bending processes to improve bending performance. This study is a part of another extensive study, automated sheet bending assistance for press brakes. Data related to material properties of sheet metal is collected in an online manner and fed to an intelligent system for determining the most accurate punch displacement without any offline iteration or calibration. The overall system aims to reduce the production time while increasing the performance of press brakes.

Over the last century, large-scale water development of the upper Rio Grande in the U.S. and Mexico, and of the Rio Conchos in Mexico, has resulted in progressive channel narrowing of the lower Rio Grande in the Big Bend region. We used methods operating at multiple spatial and temporal scales to analyze the rate, magnitude, and processes responsible for channel narrowing. These methods included: hydrologic analysis of historic stream gage data, analysis of notes of measured discharges, historic oblique and aerial photograph analysis, and stratigraphic and dendrogeomorphic analysis of inset floodplain deposits. Our analyses indicate that frequent large floods between 1900 and the mid-1940s acted as a negative feedback mechanism and maintained a wide, sandy, multi-threaded river. Declines in mean and peak flow in the mid-1940s resulted in progressive channel narrowing. Channel narrowing has been temporarily interrupted by occasional large floods that widened the channel, however, channel narrowing has always resumed. After large floods in 1990 and 1991, the active channel width of the lower Rio Grande has narrowed by 36-52%. Narrowing has occurred by the vertical accretion of fine-grained deposits on top of sand and gravel bars, inset within natural levees. Channel narrowing by vertical accretion occurred simultaneously with a rapid invasion of non-native riparian vegetation ( Tamarix spp., Arundo donax) which created a positive feedback and exacerbated the processes of channel narrowing and vertical accretion. In two floodplain trenches, we measured 2.75 and 3.5 m of vertical accretion between 1993 and 2008. In some localities, nearly 90% of bare, active channel bars were converted to vegetated floodplain during the same period. Upward shifts of stage-discharge relations occurred resulting in over-bank flooding at lower discharges, and continued vertical accretion despite a progressive reduction in stream flow. Thus, although the magnitude of the average annual

The large paleomagnetic database now available for the Central Andes permits a good understanding of the overall spatial and temporal variations of rotations. Mesozoic to Early Paleogene rocks along the forearc of northern Chile (23°-28°S) record significant clockwise rotations (>25°) [Arriagada et al., 2006, Tectonics, doi:10.1029/2005TC001923]. Along the forearc of southern Peru, counterclockwise rotations recorded within flat lying red-beds (Moquegua Formation) increase from about -30° at 17.5°S to - 45° at15.5°S and decrease through time from the late Eocene to the late Oligocene-early Miocene [Roperch et al., 2006, Tectonics, doi:10.1029/2005TC001882]. Recently published thermo-chronological studies show evidence for strong exhumation within Bolivian Eastern Cordillera and the Puna plateau starting in the Eocene while structural studies indicate that the majority of crustal shortening in the Eastern Cordillera occurred during the Eocene-Oligocene, although the final stages of deformation may have continued through the Early Miocene. Rotations in the Peruvian and north Chilean forearc thus occurred at the same time than deformation and exhumation/uplift within the Eastern Cordillera. In contrast Neogene forearc rocks in southern Peru and northern Chile do not show evidences of rotation but low magnitude (10°) counterclockwise rotations are usually found in mid to late Miocene rocks from the northern Altiplano. These Neogene rotations are concomitant with shortening in the Sub-Andean zone and sinistral strike-slip faulting along the eastern edge of the northern Altiplano. We interpret the rotation pattern along the southern Peru and north Chile forearc as a result of strong late Eocene- late Oligocene oroclinal bending of the Central Andes associated with shortening gradients along the Eastern Cordillera associated both with the Abancay deflection and the Arica bend. The amount and spatial distribution of pre-Neogene shortening needed to account for

Local variation of sediment transport is primarily controlled by active bank erosion, land spur and sand bar formation. Vertical distribution of suspended sediment concentration follows a power function with normalized depth. Average bed-material concentration at the reach level is computed from observed sediment proﬁles, ...

This paper outlines the vertical gust response analysis method in a yawed wind, gives an analytic example, and compares the experimental result with the analytic result to investigate the application of an analysis method and the validity of assumption and approximation. The vertical gust response to two cable-stayed bridges under construction in a yawed wind was predicted by applying assumption and approximation to the gust response prediction method in a yawed wind with the cantilever model having a plate cross-section manipulated. In this case, the wind velocity component perpendicular to the leading edge was defined as an effective wind velocity, and a bridge axis and the component perpendicular to a bridge axis were separately calculated in response. Moreover, some aerodynamic coefficients of a bridge girder cross-section were approximately obtained from the characteristics of the flat blades with same aspect ratio. The obtained analytic result was compared with the wind tunnel test result based on all bridge models. The result showed that the former almost coincides with the latter, the assumption and approximation of this time are verified in validity, and this analysis method can be used for cable-stayed bridges under construction. 10 refs., 7 figs., 2 tabs.